


Presumed Dead

by sentimenta1, silentinthetrees



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Pidge Angst, also hunk + lance, and pidge + keith brotp, klance fluff, lol a klance fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-06 18:22:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11041719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sentimenta1/pseuds/sentimenta1, https://archiveofourown.org/users/silentinthetrees/pseuds/silentinthetrees
Summary: There was no blood.There were no bodies.The Garrison offer no explanation. They let the papers tell the story. Funerals are paid for and the families, sent away. The Garrison is shut down for the time being.Takashi Shirogane, Matt and Samuel Holt, are soon forgotten without a trace.(caution: gay incoming)





	1. Dead line

“I leave tomorrow for an important mission, so that’s something. Cool, right?” Matt sighed over the phone, Katie could almost feel his homesickness as if it were him, she pressed her cheek to the glass-kitchen window as she leaned to the side, her mother was making the Christmas dinner as she and Matt talked. She was supposed to be helping her, but wanted to call Matt before having to speak forcefully to her, unlike her mother, Matt was easy to converse casual topics with.

A sense of normality could be felt when she talked with him. It was… nice. 

“Cool.” Katie echoed, struggling not to dampen his spirit any further. He was obviously already upset. She knew him well, if he was upset, he’d question it, and sigh heavily between sentences. 

He was forcing it. 

Matt hadn’t been home in a long time, after pursuing his dream to study and work towards his dream, and eventually explore space, he had missed a year with his family. It was hard, but she was happy that he was finally doing what he wanted.

“What’s mom doing? Is she making dinner for you?” Matt asked, he sounded worried, but the genuine love for their mother was all the same, Matt had always been very close to her. Their mother was still broken-hearted over the fact Matt wasn’t at home, as well as their father, who was accompanying him.

“She’s fine, and _yeah_ she’s making dessert. ” Katie smiled softly, glancing at her mother who was folding a chocolate chip cookie mixture together in the kitchen, humming softly as she baked. Mom had always been the best baker, always taking her yummy treats around to the neighbors, the baking was delicious and welcomed promptly by them. Mom had always said “Give it with love Katie, what’s baking without it?” As she had packed it in several different containers and given it to her and Matt to deliver to a few lonely neighbours. Not anymore. She’d stopped delivering once Matt had left, had said that “There’s no point.” Now all baking was instead consumed by them only, even if it was consumed slower. Katie questioned why she didn’t just take it around, there was more than enough for everyone. 

Ever since then, all of her cooking tasted a little sour. Tainted. 

“Nice- oh hey, Shiro wants to say hi- Sh-shiro! Hey! I’m still talk-” Katie laughed as Matt’s voice was cut-off, and the sound of a phone clattering to the floor. She didn’t know Shiro that well, but Matt had sent pictures of him and he always said hello to her. He was nice, and Katie was glad Matt had made a friend when he’d told her about the ‘Great guy with the great hair’. 

“Yo, Katie, can you tell your pathetic excuse for a brother that he should pack his bags and tidy his room more often? He’s a complete slob and-” Shiro’s deep voice was warm despite his scathing words, Katie began to reply but Shiro was cut off again, and she could pick up some background scuffling. They were probably fighting. 

“Oh my gosh, Shiro, she’s my sister! Give me back the _fuc_ -” Matt’s voice raised an octave higher than usual. 

“No swearing in front of a young lady, young man!” Shiro gasped. Katie continued to smile, she could still hear their conversation. She could hear a grumble of something like ‘You’re like, one year older than me.’ 

“Anyways, yeah nice talking to you Katie. Bye-” Shiro yelped urgently, breathing hard, he was obviously running through the house. She waited patiently, only hearing muffled screaming and the knocks of furniture. Idiots, she thought fondly. 

“Bye Shiro.” Katie replied warmly, staring at her nails as the phone was handed, well, thrown, back to Matt. 

“I’m back, that dork finally gave me my phone back, did you know that he doesn’t have his own? Oh and how’s Keith by the way? Shiro wants to know.” Matt’s voice dropped the annoyed tone. 

“Fine. He said he’s going to apply for the garrison entrance exam since the school year starts soon.” Katie reported.

She vaguely remembered Keith saying something about that, but they hadn’t spoken in awhile since the school year had finished. Even though he was older, he didn’t have a car or driver’s license, only a motorbike, and the rest of the family didn’t let him use it often. 

Something about “Reckless driving”.

Keith begged to differ. 

“Shiro says to tell him to ‘Study’, whatever the hell that means.” She could almost see him rolling his eyes in front of her. Matt always had a thing for sarcasm, and also a thing against studying, it was a wonder he’d passed the exam himself, apart from the fact he probably hadn’t needed to, dude was a fricken genius. 

“Sure, I’ll let him know.” Katie knew that Keith would hate that. She could almost hear him saying something already, like ‘Shiro’s not my dad’.

“And Lance and Hunk?” Her other two best friends, whom of which still hadn’t actually met Keith, but they met up often, usually Matt, Katie, Lance and Hunk would always hang out at the local arcade, but since Matt left, it had only been the three of them. She wished they could meet up again, but Lance was away with his family on vacation, and Hunk was back in Samoa with family. 

“Lance skyped me the other night from his family’s PC, but Hunk barely touches his phone when he’s with his family so no news about him. But they both miss you.” Katie whispered. 

A brief moment of silence on the end, only her breathing at the smell of her mother’s baking filled her senses. A hole opened in her chest. Had she said the wrong thing? 

“I’ll be back after this mission. Should only be a few weeks.” Matt sighed softly, voice heavy, not a trace of regret, but longing to be home with the gang. 

“You’ll miss Christmas day, right?” Katie’s voice came out like a whine and she drooped, wilting like a flower without water to suffice. It hadn’t always been like this, talking to Matt over the phone used to be the best part of the day, but now it was a weight on her back, knowing they’d have to have a Christmas without him or dad. 

“Yeah... but I’ll be back a few days after that.” He added on quickly. Katie felt herself lift a little, he’d be home soon, and so would dad.  
“Good. I can’t take much more of walking to places since mom won’t drive me.” Katie grinned as he gasped, genuinely hurt. 

“Is that all I am to you? Because, I mean, my dorm is pretty nice, I only have to share the bathroom with one person, plus I never have to clean up all the mess...” Matt droned on and on about how comfortable the room was with just him and ‘Brogane’ -his nickname for Shiro, his plans for re-decoration including ‘NASA’ posters, and how cool it was for his dad to stay at a hotel to give them space. Just as she was about to suggest he clean his room, she heard Mom call for her from the living room. She hadn’t realized that she’d left a while ago. 

“Katie! Can you check on the cookies? My programme is on. And stop talking to whoever it is you’re talking to.” She shouted, the sound wrenching her back to where she really was. 

“Okay, one second mom!” She hollered back, a little to sharply. The sound bouncing through the hallway to the living room. 

“Oh, sorry Matt! I’ll talk to you later, uh probably? I have to help Mom.” She mumbled quickly, the words spilling out before she could stop them from sounding blunt and forced. 

There was no reply. She let the telephone drop back into it’s holder before she could pick it back up and scream for him to come home. The call had been cut short. Too short. The absence of his voice left her disheartened. A single tear slid down her cheek. 

Tears? _Why am I crying? He’s still there_.

Dead silence. 

There had been no voice in the first place. She’d been talking to no one. 

Stop this, Katie. He’s gone. He has been for almost a year now. Give up. 

She punched the thoughts away, her blood boiling with rage. 

_Stop it. He’s still at the garrison, he and dad leave tomorrow. And he’ll be back soon._

She felt sick. Bile rising in her throat. 

_No he won’t._

_He’s not there, Katie. Look around. He left you behind._

The room was empty, stone cold, the shadows of the dim-lit room ready to consume her. Her mother wasn’t here, she was alone. 

_“No no no no….”_

With a sick feeling in her stomach, she turned on her heel towards the oven in their small-packed kitchen. To her dismay, a large waft of ghost-like smoke billowed out as she bent down and swung open the oven door. The grey substance filling her nostrils, she coughed, sputtering for clean air. Her hope for the baking draining quickly. 

Sputtering as she waved the smoke away frantically, she bit her lip.

They were burnt. Blackened, charred, broken, dry with cracks running through them. 

Reaching out to touch one of the biscuits, an inch away from her hands, a few more inches and she would touch it. She hesitated.

Beep. Beep. Beep. 

She jolted upwards, she was at home in bed. Breathing hard, she searched her surroundings for the cookies, for the kitchen, for Matt. None greeted her.

She hadn’t dreamt like that in a while, already it was becoming a hazy blur of images. The dream was fading. All faded except for one factor. 

_Matt._

It all came rushing back to her, the cruel truth was being thrust at her; the move from their old house to the new crusty apartment she and her mom lived in, Matt, her father and the famous pilot Shiro’s disappearance, the interviews, the therapist appointments. She felt herself drawn back to the days when she was happy, she yearned to go back to sleep, to hear his voice again. 

_Idiot. Idiot. Idiot._

Rubbing her face thoroughly and had a better look at her room, as if she hadn’t seen it before. It didn’t make her surroundings look any more welcoming than they already had. Plain white walls, a black desk in the corner, and a small lamp was all that inhabited the small space. 

Stretching to her bedside table again, she switched off the alarm. Relief. 

Finally, she crawled underneath the covers again, trying to block out what she knew came next. A sense of dread overcame her. 

_“Katie!_ Wake up, you have an appointment in 15 minutes!”

\- - 

“And that was the last conversation you had with Matt Holt?” The woman pursed her lips, scribbling something down, and tucking a strand of hair behind one ear. She sat cross-legged, on a white chair in front of her. 

“Yes. I don’t know anything else. I’m sorry.” Katie sighed, she’d had this conversation many times with various woman. She knew that they didn’t want to help her, none of them did, they just wanted information to leak. Thinking that she knew anything.  
She looked down everytime she answered this question, if she saw their disappointment once more it might just kill her. She’d seen it enough times. 

She dropped her gaze to the glass-coffee table in front of her, on it lay several papers. Yellowed and browned, but still able to read. All headers read things like “Takashi Shirogane and his accomplices gone missing.” and “Family’s heartbroken at the disappearances of the Holt’s and Takashi Shirogane” And endless made-up fantasy of people caring, offers for interviews to be aired on TV-all declined. All each paper said was that the Takashi’s and Holt’s preferred not to comment on the matter. 

“You’re close to the Takashi family, correct?” 

“Yeah.” Katie mumbled in response. 

When would they get it into their thick skulls that she didn’t want to talk to anyone? She hardly talked to her mother on the matter, they had… just simply carried on living. With or without the two people they had lost. A broken family. 

“Katie, dear? I asked you a question?” She hadn’t realized she’d been zoning out until the words had been spoken. The women tapped her pen against her clipboard impatiently, she hadn’t even written anything down on it. 

“I don’t know anything.” Katie said quietly, not a hint of anger in the tone, but felt herself slowly growing more and more agitated with her surroundings. The white walls, the empty room, trapped with just her and this… pathetic excuse for somebody who cared. 

The seconds ticked by. Her skin seemed to sizzle. 

“That doesn’t answer my-” 

“I _said_ I don’t know anything, you piece of shit." Katie growled, the rage spilling out, a hot pool of lava dripped from her tongue as she spoke. Venomous, vicious. Her chair was knocked backwards as she jolted up. 

Silence followed as the chair was knocked to the ground. 

“Katie, please I’m only trying to help you, Matt wouldn’t want you to-” The woman's voice shook and broke off as Katie moved towards her, obviously shocked at the outburst. 

“Don’t you fucking _dare_ say that name in front of me.” 

Afraid. Her face said it all-Fear. She seemed to sink into her chair, deflating at the anger being directed at her. An expressionless sack, deflated by the sharp poke of a snake. 

Katie suddenly liked her better that way. Instead of rounding on her in anger, she savored her fearful expression and backed away.  
Curling her lip, she picked up her chair in one hand, placing it back to it’s original position. Smiling sweetly, she dusted the chair down, as if it was damaged. The women remained silent. 

“Next, Thursday then?” Katie grinned, reaching to shake her hand. 

The woman flinched at the offer, her eyes sliding away as she avoided making eye-contact with the young girl. 

“S-somehow I don’t think i’ll be available then.” The women scribbled something down, and smiling weakly, she got up and opened the door for her. Katie smiled again, wishing she had fangs, if she had she would flash them at the woman, and flick a forked tongue, just to scare her further. 

“Works for me.” Katie shrugged, and skipped out the door. 

\- - 

“It went fine mom. Just drop it okay?” Katie wanted to sink into her seat instead of sticking to it. The air was humid, the sweltering sun had a death-grip on the car. Maybe if the air was hot enough, the leather would melt her into a puddle and she could just… slip into the creases. 

“Katie.” Her mother’s tone turned hard. Katie gulped. She could see her knuckles turning white at the steering wheel. She turned the wheel, hard, swinging around a corner down a desolate road towards their house. 

You’re letting her down. 

“Mom. I’m fine.” Katie breathed, unbuckling her seatbelt as they pulled onto the driveway. The gravel rolled beneath the wheels, sending a few pebbles flying behind the car. 

“Katie, _please_.” Her mother whispered, pausing in that stern but broken tone. She was stressed, and why shouldn’t she be? Her daughter had expensive therapy to pay for and on top of that she had to work several part time jobs to support the both of them, some nights they went a little hungry.  
If it weren’t for the Takashi's, they’d be picking food out of garbage cans by now. 

Maybe even dead. 

“I’m worried about you. You’re not doing well in school, and you never seem to talk about any friends or school work.” Her mother’s tone grew soft as she continued, but it remained saddened, a deep sadness she carried on her shoulders, weighing her down with each breath. 

_You are her only child left. You’re the one letting her down._

After a brief pause, Katie offered a plastic smile. 

“I won’t let you down, Mom. I’ll try harder, I promise.” Katie told her, trying her best to be of reassurance. She had to stay strong for her, as long as she did, they would get through this. 

Her mother placed a hand on her own, stroking her gently, and their eyes met. Mother and daughter. 

“Thank you.” 

\- - 

Katie did try harder actually. Very hard. 

But not in the way her mother had meant. She thought something was odd about their disappearance, the gear from the garrison was top-notch almost next to some of the top space exploration 

She researched, digging through the files at the garrison for anything, she combed every nook and cranny of their system, searching for anything, anything at all that would help her mind them. Just as she thought she’d found something, it would only be some stupid reports about noise complaints, and none of them were close to the date they’d left or gone missing. 

All she found were their ID pictures and report cards. She gripped the printed out files in her hands, tearing them into pieces. Frustration threatening to overcome common sense. 

They’re gone. They were really gone. 

She tore the report up with her brother’s smiling face, the shreds falling through her fingers onto the cold floor. He didn’t deserve to be gone. He needed to be at home, with her and her mom. 

As the paper fluttered to the ground, her phone beeped, her ringtone sounded, making her jump a little at the sudden sound. The nigra scream- Lance’s doing of course. Wiping away tears, she reached into her back pocket to retrieve it. 

It was a text. And then another. And another. It was Keith. Why was Keith texting her? They hadn’t talked in months. She flicked her phone open and read the texts. Her eyes darting across the screen. 

_Keith Kogane._

_Meet me at the spot. 3:15 PM._

_Urgent. 3:15 PM._

_Hurry. 3:15 PM._

_It’s about Shiro and Matt. 3:16 PM._

She was out of the house and on her bike, speeding down the street in seconds. 

\- - 

‘The spot’ Was a certain park with a dead tree and a small rigged park bench hunched against it. They’d called it the spot and met their- After school, on the weekends, during summer. Whenever they wanted to meet, it would always be at the spot. Nothing pretty to look at, but it had a certain nostalgic feel to it, after meeting at least 5 times, they’d gotten attached. 

If Keith wanted to meet at the spot it was likely urgent. 

She pedaled down the side of a street, lost in thought. Why would Keith want to talk now? After all of this. They weren’t coming back. 

They’d both lost their older brothers. Their rocks, their grounding support. To be honest, she hadn’t even bothered to talk to him after the funeral, she’d been too caught up feeling sorry for herself. Just… what could he possibly have to say about Shiro and Matt…? Not to mention her father as well, but her and her father had never gotten along too well. Unless... Keith found- 

“Oi! Watch yourself young lady!” She turned hard around an old women, just missing her by a hair. She groaned inwardly. The old woman scowled. 

“S-sorry! In a rush! You know how it is! Haha! Haha…hah” Katie laughed nervously, adding silently to herself. Moron. The women simply shook her head at her, scowling harder. 

Turning back to where she was going, she started to pedal slower, letting the wind catch her hair, sending it flying backwards in a gold flurry. 

She felt free. The late afternoon air brushing her with gentle wings. Cloaking her in its feeling. 

If only, she’d felt like this all the time. Half of the time she felt broken, like a piece of her was unmistakably missing. 

Pedaling through the familiar street, she took a small moment to stare at the sights surrounding her, framing her existence. The trees blurred past her vision, green, browning leaves danced above her head, grinning, she pedaled harder. Straight into a cold puddle lying on the path. She didn’t take a detour, letting her wheel spin through the water, her bike wheel dove into it, sending the freezing drops spiraling towards her and hit her clothing, giving her clothes a slightly splattered look. Maybe not her best idea. 

It was strangely refreshing. 

Hopefully her clothes would dry in the late-summer heat. She was cold now, the air wasn’t exactly helping her body regain its former temperature. 

Her eyes caught a certain sign on a passing pole next to her. It stuck out, tugging her attention by a hook. She stared as she passed, she couldn’t help but stare. She started to squint to get a better look. 

It read; Now accepting applications for- 

“Woah woah! Hey! Slow down!” 

A familiar voice. 

_Shit._

She came to a grinding halt. 

Too late. 

Crash, bang, and a few seconds later, she lay in a tangled heap with none other than the man himself, Keith. 

Ouch. 

“AhhAHH oh my gosh I am so sorry Keith!” Katie stood up almost as quickly as she fell, getting off of him and helping him to his feet. 

Jet black hair, pale skin, gloved hands, and the famous red jacket. Yup, just as exactly as she had remembered. Emo as always. 

He laughed “Just look where you’re going next time.” rubbing his head, and managing to smooth his hair back down. With a huff, he sat on the bench behind him and folded his arms. Taking on his famous posture, Katie often made fun of him for it, but she loved him all the same. That was just his style, and she respected that. Despite Keith being older than her by almost two years, they were best friends. Plus, despite also being older, Katie’s mind expanded far beyond that which was considered ‘smart for a 14 year old’. 

“So, how was the swim back there?” She realized he was pointing at her shirt, that was currently soaked. 

“Oh my gosh you saw that?” Katie gritted her teeth, he must have seen the whole thing. She face-palmed. It wasn’t often you saw a 14 year old splashing in puddles at this time of the year, just shy of autumn and not in the proper clothing. 

“Only all of it, don’t worry.” Good ol’ Keith, she could always count on him. Not. 

There was a silence between them, they hadn’t seen each other in months. What kind of best friends do that? Them apparently. 

“Yeah, not my ideal way of swimming but uh… anyway, here, I thought you might need this.” Keith pulled out a plastic cup from behind him, it’d been sitting on the bench, and thrust it towards her. Coffee. It’s sweet aroma reached her nose and she sighed, it smelled wonderful. 

“I know you don’t really drink coffee but-” Keith started. 

_“-excuse me?_ Give it here.” Katie took it out of his hand, and took a big slurp. Letting the contents flush out the cold. Keith smiled, searching for a reaction. 

“Wow, this is like... really good. Thanks.” Katie continued to chug it down, it felt good. 

“I knew you’d like it. How’s Mrs Holt?” Keith took out one for himself, and took a sip, patting a space next to him on the bench. Katie obliged and sat down next to him, together they drank their coffee, letting the cool air encase them in it’s enchanting surroundings. 

“Mom? Oh, well, she’s alright I guess, she got a new job, so that’s something. What about you? How’s your old man doing?” Katie replied, crunching the coffee cup into a ball and chucking it into the bright red plastic bin next to them. Score. She thought as it landed in. 

“Same as always.” He sighed. She wondered what that meant. She’d barely talked to Keith’s parents, but they seemed nice, she hoped that meant ‘okay’. Her legs swung back and forth, barely scraping the earth, they didn’t reach the ground. Her height had gone stagnant once she’d reached 12. Since then she’d stayed short and small. 

“So, what’s so urgent?” Katie felt herself edging forward, hungry for any information. A seed of hope began to grow in her. Was this it? The springboard she needed to finding them? 

“Katie. Please don’t think I’m crazy or anything...but…” Keith paused, the silence was unbearable. 

“...but?” Katie leaned forward and peered at him. 

With a jolt, he suddenly looked tired, like he hadn’t slept for days, insomnia was something that they both struggled with since the disappearance… but Keith had always had it. It sucked, really. With a pang of guilt, she realized that she hadn’t been there for him, they should have stuck together through this, instead they had simply… drifted apart. 

"Keith, when was the last time you slept?” Katie bit her lip, struggling not to sound like a nagging mother, but this was important. Keith seemed exhausted. 

“I don’t know. Maybe... a few days ago?” His voice broke out into a yawn. A worry crept into her stomach, it was as if, this was all her fault. That’s it. She was going to make sure he rested. 

“Look… Keith... this can wait. I know whatever it is you’re going to say is important, and like, trust me, I really want to know… but…” Katie stopped. Pausing for a brief moment, pursing her lips together, and staring up into the sky. Keith turned to her, and hurriedly started to gather up his things, they made eye contact. 

“Katie, run away with me.” 

\- - 

“Ew, that sounds like some, old 90’s film.” Katie laughed, and Keith groaned at her but his lips cracked into a small smile. 

“I’m serious.” Keith folded his arms, his lips setting into a straight line, his eyebrows furrowed. 

“Okay… but where?” Katie stood up, looking down at what she’d brought with her, just her backpack, it had a bottle of water, her phone, some paper and a calculator. Nothing much, she’d brought no food. 

“I don’t know.” Keith shrugged. 

“Wow. You really didn’t think this through did you ya dork- wait I’ve got it!” Katie pulled out her phone, the case was the star wars logo with R2D2 on it, she was a star wars nerd. Obviously. 

Once they’d binged the star wars films together in one night, along with pizza and drinks. 

Good times. 

“I have a few friends who would _totally_ let me stay over for a while.” She scrolled through her contacts and fell on the all too familiar name. 

“We’re really doing this?” Keith crossed his arms, it was getting dark. The stars were just starting to brighten and show themselves across the dark blue blanket. It was also getting cold. The autumn breeze was becoming cold and desolate, reaching her uncovered arms, it wouldn’t be long before she would start shivering. 

“Yup. And you’re going to meet my other friends.” Katie linked arms with him, dragging him towards her bike, he flinched but sank into the contact. Keith had never been the one to like touching others, honestly, Katie knew he just wasn’t used to it. Definitely a hugger. 

“Other friends?” Keith questioned, other than Katie, he didn’t have many other friends. It wasn’t surprising, Katie was known to be more outgoing than him. 

“Eh. Had to happen sometime, you’re not my only friend you know.” Katie flicked her hair back across her shoulders, and continued to tap in messages to the mysterious friends of hers. 

He hoped that they weren’t all girls at least. 

“You jump on the seat and pedal us, and I’ll ride in the back.” Katie pointed to it. It was getting colder, if they didn’t get moving they wouldn’t make it before her mother started to panic, most likely resulting in an all out search. Then probably four months spent locked up in her room as punishment. 

That’s the last thing I need right now. 

“The… back?” Keith yawned again, his mouth opening wide as the exhaustion started to sink in. 

Katie rolled her eyes, exasperated, sometimes Keith could be a real idiot “The back bars you doofus. Now get on already, we have to get moving. Luckily, they don’t live far from here.” She stared at her phone, they weren’t picking up. She shot off a quick text to them and hoped they’d receive it before they got there. 

Respond, come on. I know you’re awake at this time. 

“Ready?” Keith asked. 

“I guess.” Katie answered as she got a response. 

Keith pedaled, the street lights just barely illuminating their path, she shoved her phone into her back pocket and slung her backpack behind her, over her shoulders. It was dark, the trees howled and moaned as the wind picked up. Other than that it was quiet, as if all were dead except for them. It seemed like that anyway. 

This is it. We’re really running away. 

“Who are these friends of yours anyway?” Keith called back to her after a few streets of total and absolute silence. 

“Hmm, well for starters there’s Hunk. Who will totally love you, no doubt about that, he’s a real nice guy, Hufflepuff of course. Training to be a professional chef.” Katie started, thinking hard. Now that she thought about it, she really did have no friends who were girls. Huh, who knew. Maybe she just gravitated towards boys. 

Boys, huh? 

“Then there’s Lance, awesome dude really, complete idiot, loves pretty much all the stuff we’re into, he’s cuban and a pro competitive swimmer. He’s also obsessed with the ocean for some reason. Gryffindor by the way.” Katie rambled on about the two of them, she really did like those two. Apart from Keith, they had also always been there for her. She felt lucky to have four big brothers, well right now three, since Matt’s sudden absence, but yup, these four had been her rock. 

“They sound… nice?” Keith echoed after her.

“What’s your house? I’ve never asked you before, but I’m a slytherin. Everyone thinks Ravenclaw, but I must embrace my snake-like qualities and attributes.” Katie swooned, knowing she could very much be a Ravenclaw, but thought it was too cliche and not to mention, cringey.

“Uh, well I’ve never watched-” Keith’s sentence was cut off as he surveyed the surroundings. The air dropped in temperature. For a moment, a strange sensation gripped him. The air went cold, as if they had suddenly stepped into something… not quite wrong, but not quite normal either. Something fierce. He could taste the air, it was wet, cold, ice-like. A cool-like substance clothed him. Water.  
As if he could hear it from a distance, a faint roar could be heard, as if echoing over valleys and mountains, deep in the rain forests and jungles. A lion’s roar. He closed his eyes, and a deep blue swirled in his closed-off vision, underneath his eyelids all he could see was an endless ocean of blue. 

Time was slow here. The breeze was gone, replaced with this new type of air. Type? Was that right way to put it? In a way, it reminded him faintly of being in a space suit, drifting where there was no gravity. Space? Possibly. 

An odd sense of foreboding overcame him. His whole body felt light. 

It was surreal. Something was tugging him towards this strange element of another reality. Had a few seconds gone by, or years, there was no way to determine it. Time had stopped, indeed, but only for a brief moment. 

Only three things were presented to him in this dream-like world, none made sense if put together; Water, Blue, and a lion. He was perplexed at this, why was this happening? Why now? Just as he was about to delve into the possibility that this was some unknown force connected to him somehow, Katie shrieked. 

_What the-?_

“Keith!” 

 

\- - - 

“Oh my gosh, get him in here. Katie! What the hell? Who is this? I thought you said you were coming alone!?” An unfamiliar voice screamed, his voice slightly scolding, sounding exactly like some kind of grumpy, tired, but caring grandmother. 

Keith felt himself being taken in arms, carried into a house, and placed gently on a squishy couch. Soon a blanket was thrown on him and heat was blasted at him. A heater. 

Who’s house was he in? He could hear arguing, but with voices he didn’t exactly know, apart from Katie’s of course. She was there too, they seemed to be talking about him. He wanted to open his eyes, instead they were tired and sore, unable to open. He was sore all over, his muscles were on fire.

“Look, Lance. He’s my friend. Hunk, can you just get him so food alright? I have no fucking clue what happened there. He just… fell unconscious for some reason.” Katie was speaking, urgently and fast, she was worried about him. Her words came out shaky, spilling from her mouth. 

“Fine. You can get a spare change of clothes for him from my room. He looks around my size.” Lance said to her. 

_Lance._ So that was the name of the boy who was talking. 

“Aight, I can make him something. Oh, does he have any like, allergies or anything Katie?” It was a new voice, what was the name of this one? He sounded kind, warm, and bubbly. He desperately wanted to open his eyes to see.  
Keith had a peak of interest at the prospect of food. He decided that he was hungry, and tired, and sore. All of those added to feeling like shit.  
He could vaguely remember these names from somewhere, had Katie mentioned them? 

“He’s lactose intolerant, but he’s not picky or anything, Hunk. He won’t mind like, toast.” Katie told the voice. 

Hunk. He liked the sound of that name. He couldn’t see the strangers so he assigned the two colors instead to associate them with for the time being, something he liked to do without looking. Katie was green, she’d always been green to him. A bright, neon spastic kind of green. The exact shade that was kind of sassy, but very much bearable. A bursting green that could go on endlessly. 

He thought quickly, Hunk seemed to be a yellow kind of guy. Bubbly, caring, and very much welcoming. A strong kind of yellow, but not one that was nasty like mustard, quite the opposite. He obviously used that strength instead to help, create, and defend, not destroy. Hunk had a good heart, and a big one. A honey mustard kind of yellow. 

“Lance, can you help me make this?” Hunk called. 

“Yeah, sure. Gimme a second.” 

Lance was… he listened closer. From what he could tell, so far Lance was a few shades of blue, the pretty kinds of one's. It was odd. He’d never been this intrigued in someone’s color before, this one was forever changing. Huh, weird. Lance was an ocean, one that bubbled, laughed, and flowed into the hearts of others, he seemed to be a lot deeper than he actually sounded. There was something tugging him towards this particular color, often all he could see for people was one straight color, but Lance was… different. He was obviously blue, but sometimes he was a turquoise, and other times he was a blackish-blue. It was as if Lance wasn’t stable, but forever shifting from one emotion to the other. An endless changing cycle. 

Interesting. 

He shifted slightly, his muscles twinging at the joints a bit. 

From what he could tell, he was at ‘Lance’s’ and ‘Hunk’s’ apartment. Katie’s friends. 

“Hey, mullet man.” Lance. He was talking to him. 

“Wake up. There’s food and a change of clothes in front of you.” Lance urged slightly. 

Keith forced his eyes open, finally able to see the mysterious blue boy. 

His eyes almost popped out of his head. He was extremely attractive, with brown tufts of hair poking up slightly from his head of hair, curly and a rich brown. Tanned skin and long-toned limbs, a pointed nose, blue slanted eyes and a dorky kind of smile. Spanish perhaps? Cuban? 

_I am so fucked._

It took him a few seconds to realize he hadn’t replied. He just hoped he didn’t look as shitty as he felt next to this… Lance. Who seemed to look good without effort. 

“Oi. I’m talking to you mullet.” Lance repeated. 

_Mullet? Is it really getting that long?_

__Keith hands instinctively went to the back of his head, fiddling with the strands of black hair. A mullet? Well I guess you could call it that. His arm burned at the movement._ _

__“Uh…” Keith couldn’t speak. His mouth went dry, the words wouldn’t come._ _

___Shit what do I say? ‘Uh thanks dude’? Is that weird? He doesn’t even know my name, fuck oh my gosh he’s waiting for me to say something shit what do I say-_ _ _

__“Look, you don’t have to say anything. Just eat something and get changed, your clothes are wet you know.” Lance pointed to his clothes, Keith’s eyes fell down and he felt even more stupid._ _

___Why the fuck are my clothes wet._ _ _

__They were soaked, his shirt and partially his shorts were wet and dripping onto the couch. How the hell hadn’t he realized? He was freezing._ _

__Lance shifted, and stood up from squatting, so that Keith could more fully observe his appearance. He was wearing a blue and pink pastel shirt with patterned waves, across it in white text it said ‘Surf’s up’ despite being a slightly more childish shirt, it seemed to suit him. With it he wore white shorts and polka dotted off-white socks. Put together to create a bright, and bombastic look. Keith begrudgingly admitted that he pulled it off quite well._ _

__The boy started to walk towards a door that led to a hallway, with his arms behind his head lazily. Just as he was about to leave, Keith coughed and croaked out;_ _

__“Uh, thanks.” His voice come out more raspy and flat than he had initially hoped._ _

__Lance simply spun back around and threw a piece sign, accompanied by a toothy but bright grin that reached his eyes._ _

__“No problem.” Lance replied, and exited the room. Carrying the ocean of blue along with him._ _

__Now the room felt empty without that blue._ _

__“Dork, am I right?” Katie said, pulling on a hoodie over her head. Keith hadn’t even realized she was in the room with them, she could be like that. Extremely quiet at times, at others loud and vicious. It used to shock him, but now he was used to her, popping into conversations like that._ _

__“Yeah, dork.” Keith echoed quietly. Though his voice still scratchy and hard to use from the lack of speech, he grew brighter at the smell of food._ _

__“Eat first. Then talk.” Katie pointed to the food on the coffee table beside him, finally he could look at his surroundings and get a grasp of things. He was indeed in an apartment, it was fairly clean with white cream walls, a few couches and a decently sized TV. A black coat hanger beside the door held Katie’s back-pack and clothes that belonged to probably Lance and Hunk. Glancing behind him, there was a small kitchen with a few undried dishes there, and a fridge that was decorated with what seemed to be children’s drawings. Around him seemed to be the living room, sagging brown couches, the coffee table, and a rough carpet. It seemed homely enough._ _

__“Eat, Keith.” Katie repeated, again pointing at the food. It smelled delicious, a bowl of potato and chicken soup, warm and fresh from the pot. They must have given up making something and reheated some leftovers._ _

__“Okay but… what the hell happened?” Keith sat up, his bones rigged and sore, but he forced himself upright, he really wanted the soup. Bringing it into his hands, he took a spoonful and brought it to his lips. Soon he was shoveling in spoonful after spoonful. Who knew soup could be so good?  
“Nothing really, they splashed us with their car while driving past because they wanted to pick me up, I tried to tell you to dodge the water but you… kind of spaced out and went unconscious for a little while after the water hit us. What happened to you?” Katie looked genuinely worried, sending a little sliver of guilt down his throat, the soup suddenly tasted slightly sour. _ _

__“I uh…” Keith trailed off, searching for words to describe what he had felt before. It was odd sure, but was it really? He had been really tired._ _

___Maybe I just blacked out or something-_ _ _

__“Oh, does the soup not taste good?” That voice again, it was the warm one again. Hunk. He turned to find a brown, chubby boy with dark brown hair, a round face and an orange band around his head, keeping hair out of his face. Naruto inspired perhaps? He’d have to ask him later._ _

__“No no no! It’s uh, it’s really good actually.” Keith fumbled, knowing that he was very well intruding in on their home._ _

__“Oh that’s good! For a second I thought you might not like it or something. Name’s Hunk. Nice to meet you man.” Hunk grinned, patting him on the shoulder._ _

__“Keith.” He replied._ _

__“Don’t mind Lance, he can be an idiot sometimes. Between you and me, I guess you could say he’s not that ‘Straig-” Hunk laughed, Keith immediately decided he liked Hunk’s laugh. It was just as nice and warm as Hunk looked. Squishy and soft, a little rough around the edges, but spongy._ _

__“I heard that, Hunk!” Lance yelled from the opposite side of the house. Keith couldn’t help, he laughed, from the corner of his vision he could see Katie freeze. It was true, he hadn’t laughed in a long time. A laugh was long overdue._ _

__He had laughed. Katie giggled at it, when Keith laughed, it didn’t happen often, but he snorted._ _

__Hunk grinned again, as if pleased he got a laugh out of the seemingly serious black haired boy, then followed after what seemed to be the same direction Lance had headed in a few moments prior. Probably their room off to the side of the hallway._ _

__“Your friends seem...nice?” Keith struggled for a better adjective, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead they spiralled away, out of reach as he grasped for the blue to come back. He yearned for the bursts of color._ _

___What the hell? I don’t even usually like the color blue…_ _ _

__It was confusing, ‘blue’ had simply never appealed to him, he preferred red, with its several different meanings of, anger, love, hate, frustration, blood, the color was often misunderstood for being regarded as an angry hot color, but other times it could mean love. Misunderstood, just like him._ _

__Even though he was aware of its ‘love’ potential, he preferred defining the color red as anger._ _

__So what made blue so special?_ _

__Was it because it was cool, that it was calming, soothing, at other times ice-like and isolating, dark and brooding, deep like the ocean, or shallow like tropical rock pools? Or even descending like rain, or perhaps the stretching sky? And why had Lance triggered such a feeling?_ _

__Was it because it was so contrasting to that of his own color? Which was red, obviously._ _

___Blue plus Red equals-_ _ _

__“Yeah they are nice, good pals of mine, I’ve known them for almost as long as I’ve known you!” Katie continued, shattering his peaceful slumber of thought._ _

___Whatever, back to reality._ _ _

__“I’m gonna go change.” Keith sighed, ignoring her statement, whoever this Lance was, he wouldn’t let him get into his mind so much, hopefully._ _

__“Mhm.” Katie mumbled, barely audible as her attention diverted away from him, switching on the TV next to her, and flicking through the channels as if she had been here a million times before. Well, she probably had._ _

__Standing up, he set his bowl down on the table he followed the direction where Lance and Hunk had disappeared off to._ _

__As he stood in the hallway aimlessly, dumbfounded as where to go, a shout behind him sounded._ _

__“Bathroom’s to the left!” Katie yelled. Relief washed over him._ _

__Keith slid open the bathroom door and stepped into the room, eager to get new clothes on. Ripping off his cold, soaked clothes, he felt a sense of satisfaction as the warm, dry clothes replaced them. He averted his eyes from his body as he removed the clothing from his body leaving it bare and covering it again, desperately avoiding having to look at his pale skin._ _

__Surveying the clothes given to him, he couldn’t help but gape at himself in the mirror. He looked like he’d just put a fucking sleeping bag on his body. He wore a fluffy red jumper, over sized and droopy, almost reaching his knees, and to complete the already ridiculous baggy look, black baggy sweat pants._ _

__He exited the bathroom and walked back into the living room, retrieving his potato soup from coffee table, eager to dig back in now that he was dressed. Katie took one look at him, covering her mouth with one hand, barely able to contain her laughter._ _

__“You look-”_ _

___“-Ridiculous_ , I know Katie. Thanks.” Keith said flatly, avoiding her penalizing stare and continued to slurp up his soup, grateful for it’s warm aroma. Despite knowing he looked like a red sausage, along with photographic evidence from Katie, he couldn’t help but smile around his spoon. _ _

__It was just too hard to be angry when he had a warm bowl of soup in his hands._ _

__\- -_ _

__Avoiding Lance wasn’t easy, on the contrary, it was extremely difficult to. How are you supposed to avoid the host of the home you’re staying in? That’s right, you can’t._ _

__For example._ _

__“Hey Keith what house are you?” Lance had learned his name after Keith had argued his name was most certainly not ‘Mullet man.’_ _

__“He said he’s never watched it before-”_ _

__“WAIT what!?”_ _

__“Katie, please do not tell me you’ve brought a muggle into our mitz.”_ _

__“I am afraid I have Lance. But throwing him out is a no-can-do, we are both on strict ‘sticking together’ terms and regulations.”_ _

__“We need to fix this right now.”_ _

__“Hunk! Get the DVD’s and popcorn ready!”_ _

__“Already on it.”_ _

__As if his current situation wasn’t bad enough, somehow the four of them were suddenly preparing for a Harry potter marathon, how the hell was he going to sit through eight movies without falling asleep?_ _

__“If you need to go to the bathroom, go now. The theater does not allow breaks in between.” Lance barked, he marched in front of the three others who were currently slouched on the couch._ _

__“You can’t just block us from going to the bathroom-” Keith began, horrified at the thought._ _

__“Oh, trust me, he will.” Katie interrupted flatly, barely looking up from her phone, from the dead-inside look on her face. Keith knew she was dead serious._ _

__“This is a momentous occasion, Katie! Our first muggle is going to be joining Hogwarts!” Lance cried, and exaggerated the two phrases with a pop of his fists into the air, he was taking this seriously- too seriously. What was so great about this franchise anyway? As far as Keith knew, witches just weren’t his thing, neither was magic._ _

__“The theater opens at two o’ clock and closes it’s doors at exactly ten past.” Lance murmured, glancing at an imaginary watch on his wrist. Keith couldn’t help but giggle a little at just how seriously this boy was taking this. As Lance caught his eye, he winked, and finger-gunned him.Keith blushed, and looked away, startled at just how much his heart boomed and pounded at that look._ _

__“The official viewing of Harry potter will commence in exactly ten minutes!” Lance screamed in their faces, waving his arms vainly to get their attention. Keith glanced from left to right, on his left Katie was on her phone, what looked like to be scrolling through tumblr, and looking bored out of her mind, while Hunk simply stood up to stop the popcorn and get it out of the microwave._ _

__It’s like they’ve done this a million times before._ _

__Keith felt like a stranger among them, this tightly knit group of friends, was this why Katie had brought him along? To force Keith to get to know Lance and Hunk? Or was this a form of torture? Because shit it felt like it. His first instinct was to pull out his phone and pretend none of this was happening at all, but he knew that Katie had dragged him along for a reason._ _

__Instead he decided to observe, maybe he could learn more about them._ _

__Lance and Hunk seemed close, comfortable with each other’s presence as if they were connected at the hip. Both different, but they seemed to be childhood friends, brushing past each other and making skin contact like it was nothing. Hell, if somebody said “Hold hands for 5 hours” they could probably do it. He watched as Hunk pulled out the popcorn while Lance told it to him so he could catch it in his mouth. Hunk laughed and chucked a few at the same time, laughing louder at Lance’s scowl as it bounced off his face and onto the floor._ _

__“I have been betrayed, Hunk.” Lance sighed in defeat as the popcorn plopped to the floor, missing his mouth by a mile._ _

__“That’s what you get when you ask me to waste food!” Hunk cried, shrugging._ _

__“I would have totally caught it if your throw hadn’t sucked, geez have some faith it me buddy.” Lance insisted, pointing at his mouth._ _

__“As _if_ man.” Hunk shook his head, and returned to the living room with the bowl of popcorn, pizza and chilled pepsi. _ _

__“Seriously? Pepsi? Why not coca cola?” Keith couldn’t help but blurt._ _

__“Tradition.” Hunk shrugged, unscrewing one of the bottles, pouring it into a cup and chugging it down. Lance didn’t seem bothered by the statement, and neither did Katie. They didn’t seem to care._ _

__“The Harry potter movie marathon will now begin!” Lance whooped, Katie and Hunk whooped along with him. He tried to ignore that._ _

__Hunk then flicked off the lights and everything went dark, he could hardly see his own hands, Hunk had also closed the curtains so there was literally no light source._ _

__Lance slid in the first DVD, shaking with excitement as it clicked and whirred in the machine. Keith looked up as the menu came on screen and Lance selected Play. Katie put her phone down and Hunk passed the bowl of popcorn to him, all settled down, the movie began._ _

__Around halfway through the films Keith had completely forgotten about the bowl of popcorn sitting on his lap and most likely spilled over his black jeans. He was captivated by the setting of wizardry._ _

__...Then the screen paused._ _

__“Lance what the hell?!” They were halfway through Order of the phoenix._ _

__“So…” Lance turned to him with a sly smile, leaving the movie paused, he stood up and coughed to get Katie’s and Hunk’s attention._ _

__The blue light of the screen fell soft onto the boy’s skin, framing him in it’s blue glow. His eyes shone in the dark._ _

__“The time has come Keith, the sorting ceremony!” Lance picked up an old baseball cap from behind the TV and shook off the dust from it, it looked tatted from years of being shoved behind nooks and cranny’s. He picked up a chair and dragged it to the centre of the room._ _

__Hunk flicked the lights back on. It blinded him for a second, he blinked letting his eyes grow used to the light._ _

__“Oh my gosh we don’t have to do this, I could just tell you all what house I think I am-”_ _

__“No can do, Keith. This club has strict terms, follow the rules or leave the premises.” Lance pointed to the door. “Besides, if we’re going to tell you what house you are, we’ve gotta do it properly.” Lance motioned for him to come to the chair, his hands tapping impatiently on the top of the seat._ _

__“But-” Keith wanted to argue, scream, and chain himself to his seat, he just… didn’t want to be told what house he was._ _

__“Lance is actually really good at telling you what house you are, Keith. Trust him on this one.” Katie flicked her hand and pointed to the chair, even her eyes were lit up with a fire, she looked excited and so did Hunk, as if this was the moment they had all been waiting for._ _

__He looked around at each of their faces, their eyes shone with a passion he’d never seen before._ _

__“Fine, but I don’t like it.” Keith sighed begrudgingly, internally groaning, but giving in. Reluctantly and slowly rising from his seat, he sat back down again on the chair Lance had stationed in the center of the room._ _

__The hat was placed on his head, making his bangs get in the way of his eyes, tickling his cheeks. He suddenly wished he had shorter hair for this occasion._ _

__Lance imitated the sorting hat’s voice, squeezing out the words so that they would come out raspy and rough. Hunk and Katie watched eagerly from their seats.  
“Hmmm… a mullet aye? Interesting… lot’s of courage, bravery, and sharp-like instincts in this one hm? Dark and brooding, but skillful. You’d make a fine slytherin, my dear boy-”_ _

__“-NO.”_ _

__Lance, Katie and Hunk all looked at Keith in awe, surprised at his small but sudden outburst._ _

__Shocked, but intrigued._ _

__Lance decided to roll with it, shrugging it off._ _

__Lance continued, sneering a little as he went on. “Not Slytherin? Hmm, definitely not a Ravenclaw, not enough smarts for that, I can tell that this one is sharp but a little blunt around the edges when it comes to intelligence-”_ _

__“-Lance.” Keith folded his arms, a whisker away from whipping the stupid baseball hat off, and storm out the door without knowing whatever house he was in._ _

__“Okay okay! Geez, take a joke much?” Lance looked to Katie and Hunk, who both shook their heads in disapproval. Lance rolled his eyes, and narrowed his eyes, trying to concentrate a bit more. Gripping the sides of the baseball hat harder, he squinted, seeming a little more serious about the task at hand. Taking a deep breath, Lance lifted the hat from Keith friend, and leaned down beside him, grinning as he told him his answer._ _

__“Gryffindor.”_ _

__Katie and Hunk cheered, Lance howling with laughter as Hunk opened the pepsi, it spurted everywhere, a brown froth spraying the air. Katie stuck out her tongue to collect the sweetness. Hunk pulled out cups for the four of them, and together toasted to their new wizard in the making._ _

__\- -_ _

__Why? Why Gryffindor? Why not Slytherin? Even though he had interrupted the discussion and said ‘No’, there had been a pulling sensation towards Slytherin, but why? Personally, he did think that he was a Slytherin deep down, something about it was compelling._ _

__Was Lance right? Keith had his doubts, but hadn’t been able to bring himself to question it._ _

__Lance seemed more perceptively aware than most, he’d probably been observing Keith himself till that point. Keith had noticed, but decided to ignore that, Lance had watched him closely with keen eyes the whole time, at first he had pushed that thought away, because to be frank, Keith had been doing the same._ _

__Maybe Lance was right._ _

__The movie marathon had been a success, though they had all begun to doze off halfway through the second to last movie, and eventually collapsed of exhaustion. The credits were still rolling, illuminating the room softly, painting it in a soft glow. The audio had been turned down, so the music was just barely audible in the background. It was a nice atmosphere honestly._ _

__Keith shifted on the couch, struggling to gain a sense of comfort. The leathery grip of it had grown sweaty and hot after some time, losing its previous charm, it was no longer comfortable._ _

__After shifting for sometime, over and over, rolling back and forth and having to listen to the other’s gentle and blissful sleeping, he cursed inwardly, throwing his blanket off. Hearing it plop onto the other side of the room, he slid off the couch and onto his feet._ _

__He couldn’t sleep._ _

__Suddenly, his phone started to vibrate. Startling him with it’s sudden movement. Retrieving it from his back pocket, his fingers mound the cold metal. Keith held it in his hands, groaning a little inside._ _

__He scanned the name._ _

___Shit. Mom._ _ _

__His eyes instinctively darted towards the four lumps sleeping behind him, sighing, he gently slid open the apartment door, and stepped out onto the veranda on silent toes. He didn’t want to wake them. His bare feet trembled a little at the sudden cold that his toes touched, the cool air surrounded him, waking his body up and shocking it alert._ _

__Keith tapped his phone, and waited for the inevitable._ _

__“Hey, mom.” Keith answered, his voice came out gruff, composing himself, he heard his mother take a deep shuddering breath, then her voice blasted in his ear. He winced._ _

__“Keith, where are you? It’s 3AM!” She shouted into the phone._ _

__“Uh… at Katie’s place, I’m staying over.” Keith replied, thinking fast. He crossed his fingers, hoping that it would get her off his back. It was a plausible excuse, and it made sense, hopefully it would work._ _

__“Oh.” His mother muttered softly, as if she had anticipated a more wild answer._ _

__“Sorry, I should have called and told you, but-” Keith fumbled, praying that_ _

__“No no, it’s fine. Just, let me talk to Colleen for a moment.” She sounded tired, and too stressed to deal with his 'shenanigans'._ _

___Shit._ _ _

__Okay, fact number one; Keith was, not in fact, at Katie’s place, and her mother was nowhere near where he was right now, and fact number two; he was utterly fucked._ _

__Trying to keep his breathing under control, as he had never actually been a good liar, he took a deep breath, and mustered up a monotone like voice._ _

__“Sure, hang on.”_ _

__Bursting back into the room, he crawled over and recognized which lump was Katie. He recognized her and grabbed onto her shoulder, shaking her roughly, cursing as she didn’t stir._ _

__“Oi! Katie! Wake up!”_ _

__She didn’t even turn. Grabbing her pillow, he whopped her over the head, sighing in relief when she finally turned over, yawing and rubbing her eyelids._ _

__“Keith, what the _fuck_.” She sat up, still yawning, eyes drooping lazily. She grabbed her pillow from his hands, and smacked it over his head. _ _

__“Ow.” He rubbed his head and pointed at his phone, pressing a finger to his lips. Hoping she would get the message._ _

__Lowering his voice to barely above a whisper, he cupped his mouth on one side, and whispered._ _

__“It’s my mom! She thinks I’m at your place and wants to talk to _your_ mom!” He scream-whispered, his eyes darting to Lance and Hunk quickly. Neither of them were awake. _ _

__“Give the phone here, believe it or not, I have a full-proof getaway conversation for this kind of thing.” She rolled her eyes as if he were a child, making him feel small in comparison. True, he was overacting, but he was desperately trying not to blow their cover, so he bit back a sharp retort._ _

__Keith hesitated at first, but when Katie had an idea, it usually was a genius one. Still reluctant, he handed his phone over, she coughed a little, warming her voice up._ _

__“Hi Mrs Takashi! It’s Katie here, mom’s in the shower right now, but whatever it is you need to tell her, I can pass on the message.” Katie was good, like really good, and Keith was… well, an idiot. Why hadn’t he thought of that? It was a simple thing to do really._ _

__“Yup. I’ll tell her, oh and Keith wants to stay for a bit longer if that’s okay? My mom said it’s fine…” Katie continued, shooting at look at him._ _

__“Yeah, okay! Bye!” As soon as she passed the phone back to him, her voice dropped back to it’s original tone._ _

__“All she wanted to tell my mom was that you’re lactose intolerant, as if she doesn’t know that already…. also she said you could stay for a few more days, that should buy us some more time, oh yeah, and my mom thinks I’m at your place.”_ _

__“Thanks, Katie.” Keith smiled, switching off his phone, and getting up to leave._ _

__“Now let me sleep, idiot.” Yawning through her sentence, Katie rolled back into her original position, pulling up the covers to cover her body. She was asleep in seconds. Huh, must be tired._ _

__Now he felt bad for waking her up._ _

__Stepping back outside, the cold felt nicer this time. Cool in a comforting way, but not icy. The boy’s breath billowed out in a soft grey cloud in little flowery plumes. Keith stared out across the street, trying to make it out, street lamps speckling the side of roads, little green bushes on well-kept lawns, and a few street cat’s pacing and prowling the street were all he could see. It was a nice neighborhood._ _

__Looking up, and tilting his head back, he could pick out the first few stars burning out as the early dawn set in, extinguishing them one by one. A few held on, glittering for as long as possible before they to, were overcome by the sun, no longer able to be seen by the naked eye._ _

__There was no way he was going back to sleep now. He knew that he’d be exhausted by the time the others awoke, but he knew that sleep would not find him, and besides, the sight was worth it._ _

__He’d just wait it out. Waiting for the blue sky to return._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh first chapter's finally up, hopefully the next chapter will be out next week!


	2. Transition

He’d have to tell her sometime. Sometime meaning probably soon, Keith had completely forgotten, but he had been meaning to tell Katie something important, but looking at her from across the room, he knew that it wasn’t the right time to tell her about Shiro and Matt. It was hard a topic to discuss with Lance and Hunk around. 

He’d get to that later. 

So, perhaps staying up so late wasn’t a good idea, he had bags under his eyes and a massive throbbing headache. Barely able to keep his eyes open, Keith watched the others. They were playing some kind of board game, and later they were supposed to head out to a cafe and have lunch, mainly because Hunk didn’t feel like cooking anything (unfortunately) and there were apparently some killer cupcakes Lance wanted him and Katie to try. 

“-eith... come play Monopoly with us!” Katie urged, ripping his phone out of his hands and chucking the object on the opposite couch. 

Keith blinked. Shocked at the absence of it. 

“Uh…” He mumbled, but Katie just dragged him down off the couch and onto the floor. 

_“C’mon man,_ seriously, it’s not that hard.” Hunk encouraged, plopping an extra game piece onto the board for him. Keith sighed, and skimmed his eyes over the game, it was like nothing he’d seen before. Money was stacked on one end, there were random words everywhere that were meaningless to him, weird game-pieces, and two piles of cards. 

Keith frowned, trying to make sense of it all. 

“Ready to get destroyed, _Keith?”_ Lance nudged him in the ribs, dragging out the ‘e’. 

Keith knew that he was baiting him, and was well aware if the fact that he’d NEVER played Monopoly before, nevertheless, he nodded for Katie to give him the dice. His veins were fueled with anger, starting to boil as Lance wiggled his eyebrows, daring him to join the game. 

He clasped the die in his hands, and shook them around vigorously before throwing them. He moved his piece. (Assuming that’s how the game worked) 

“You betcha, _Lance.”_ Keith replied, dragging the ‘s’, tempted to spit in Lance’s stupid stupid face that made him feel things. Lance scowled in return, but there was a certain ‘smirk’ on the end of it that just screamed ‘Lance’. 

\- - - 

As it turned out, Monopoly was a lot harder than Keith had initially thought, he’d ended up losing all his money, and getting crushed halfway through, just as he was getting the hang of it. It was too bad, Keith had really wanted to smash Lance’s stupid face into the dirt. 

Unfortunately, Katie had recorded the beat down, claiming that Keith had gone red at one point ‘red as a tomato’. 

“I was not red, Katie.” Keith argued. 

“Were, too. And I wonder why? Perhaps Lance has something to do with it-” She lifted her phone to his face eagerly, and started to zoom in on his face in the picture. Beneath her glasses, Keith could pick out that mischievous sassy grin of hers. He frowned, lowering her phone from his eyesight, there was no way he was going to look at it. 

“-I _assure_ you, that there was nothing of the sort.” Keith folded his arms, pouting slightly. 

Thinking back to that moment, he knew Katie was right. Like, dead right. 

He had gone ‘red as a tomato’ because Lance had decided to give him a new name. He drew himself back to that particular moment. Delving back. 

“Lance, you _do_ realize it’s Keith’s turn right?” Katie had said, pointing at the dice in his hands. If Keith hadn’t been paying as much attention as he had been, he wouldn’t have caught the wistful and lost sight he’d seen in Lance’s eyes as he slowly turned the dice over in his hands. Was he reliving something? Memories had flickered through his eyes, ghosts of memories from years before. He was staring particularly at the dice in a fond way, but despite that… 

He looked… lost. 

Keith hadn’t been able to turn away. He was enticed in that look.

“Here you go, babe.” Lance clicked his tongue and shot him a few finger-guns with his hands, winking one eye and returning to his bouncy self. 

“Thanks.” Keith said, and held the die in his hands. 

The look was gone, vanished and replaced with the Lance he had known up to that point. Had Katie and Hunk seen it too? He looked to them, but they weren’t paying attention, they were having some other conversation about an invention Hunk was working on. They were too absorbed in their topic to give Lance or him any attention. 

That was when he went red. Heat filled his body as he processed what Lance had called him, a blush set in. Who the hell calls someone you just met ‘babe’? Katie and Hunk didn’t look bothered, so maybe it was just a Lance thing. He tried not to give it any more thought. (And failed horribly, which then caused him to go red) 

The four of them, or ‘squad’ as Lance had put it, were currently seated in a bustling cafe, bursting with noise, plates being stacked, and the boisterous noise of orders being taken. They’d only just managed to grab a table, and had hurriedly sat down while Lance skimmed the menu then slammed it down a few moments after. 

“We won’t need them.” Lance had shook his head and pointed to one item on the list. Cupcakes. 

Keith frowned at Lance’s words, he had been eyeing up the quiche, it looked particularly inviting. Cupcakes? For Lunch? Honestly, he wasn’t as surprised as he should have been, he had the feeling Lance just went with the flow.

“Trust me. You’ll love em’ Keith.” Lance smirked. Hunk nodded his head vigorously, while Katie sipped a glass of water at their table, shrugging. 

It seemed like all he had been doing lately was trusting Lance. Trust him and his ridiculous antics. 

“I trust Hunk, so fine. Get the damn cupcakes.” Keith set his menu down, and pulled out his phone, checking the time. 

1:27 PM. 

“A wise decision.” Lance nodded, leaning back against his chair, eyes half-closed. He seemed to be taking in the smell around them. It did smell wonderful. Keith couldn’t help but look up at Lance, his laid back posture, and the way he melded into his surroundings. 

He couldn’t ignore the way Lance had positively lit up at the sight of the place, brightening at the sights, the food, but particularly the people. The way Lance easily chatted up the waiters asking for a box of cupcakes, and flirted a little with them, causing them to giggle and laugh, Keith squirmed at it. Lance was a natural at making friends and talking to people. He should’ve known, within a few days of knowing him, Keith just knew that he could refer to Lance as a friend now, begrudgingly. 

Lance loved people. 

The boy then turned to Hunk and started chatting eagerly, probably about the menu. Keith couldn’t help but catch sight of Lance’s smile, it certainly suited him and his personality. 

“Don’t stare, Keith. Just talk to him, ya know, like a normal person?” Katie glanced up from her phone, a satisfied smirk playing on her lips when he scowled. She’d caught him. Red handed. 

“I was not staring.” Keith argued, his mood quickly dissolving down the drain. Did Katie have to ruin the mood? 

“Sure.” Katie rolled her eyes, and returned her attention to her phone, as if she had more important things to do than deal with his BS. Keith now found himself alone on the table, with no one to talk to, there was Hunk, but he and Lance were whispering behind the menu, giggling and laughing for no particular reason, well not one he could see. From where he sat across from them, he felt truly alone. 

“So… Keith which school do you go to?” Keith sighed in relief. Hunk’s attempt at an approach to a conversation seemed genuine, it opened an easy topic that he could talk about. 

“Uh… I’m not enrolled anywhere just yet.” Keith fumbled for words, he’d never be one to hold up a conversation well. 

Hunk looked disappointed, about to turn away. 

“I’m planning to though?” Keith instinctively looked to his right to Katie, she shrugged, leaving it up to him. 

“Really, where?” Hunk asked eagerly, someone giving him their full attention was strange to him. 

“The garrison, I’m thinking of taking the entry exam. I know it’s weird but...” Keith looked at both Lance and Hunk, waiting for their response. Would they think it was stupid? That someone would want to study space and piloting? 

Instead, Hunk looked excited. Practically bouncing in his seat. 

“Actually, Keith... we were planning on taking the exam too! That’s awesome! Maybe we’ll all get in!” Hunk held out a closed fist, grinning, he looked happy for him. 

Tentatively, Keith bumped his fist with Hunk’s. 

“Piloting you say? I’m going to take engineering, and Lance is taking piloting as well!” 

Katie looked excited as well, and became engrossed in a conversation in scientific jargon that Keith could hardly keep up with. 

Keith then averted his eyes past an excited Hunk to look at Lance. 

Lance looked uncomfortable, his gaze slid away as Keith tried to catch his eye, Lance’s grip on the menu grew hard. His fingers turning white at the pressure. 

Keith felt sick. 

Keith dropped his gaze, and looked to Hunk and Katie, to see if they had caught on. Neither of them noticed, what was wrong with them? Was Keith the only one feeling the change in atmosphere? 

Something was wrong about the fact he was attending the garrison. 

“Lance, are-” 

“Here you go ladies and gentlemen!” A pretty looking lady promptly thrusted a plate of cupcakes at them, placing it on the table along with four tall glasses of lemonade. Their order had arrived. 

“Anything else you need?” The waiter asked sweetly. 

“No thank you, beautiful.” Lance purred, leaning on one elbow, causing her to giggle and blush. 

Keith and Katie rolled their eyes in unison. Lance had reverted back to his plain old safe, chatting up the waitress, making jokes and flirty obnoxiously in front of them. Hunk shouldered Lance out of the way and apologized for keeping the waiter. 

His curiosity burned with impatience. He knew now that he had to get to know Lance. 

Katie nudged him hard in the ribs before he could think anymore about it. Keith ignored her, trying to delve back into the trance. She nudged him again, harder. 

_Damn it Katie._

She leaned down and sheltered their conversation with a large menu paper. 

“Keith, I’ve got it.” Her eyes shone, her spectacles practically glittering in anticipation. Keith recognized that look, and idea was forming within her head. Behind those glasses and hair curled into impossible angles, Keith knew there was one hell of brain. 

When Katie got an idea, there was no turning back. 

“Got what?” Keith felt himself grow excited, she’d found something. 

“We should all enroll in the garrison! There, we can dig up information about Shiro and Matt!” Her eyes shone, brighter than ever. The brightest he’d seen them in months. 

She’d found her spark again. 

“But… you’re not old enough, there’s an age restriction.” Keith tried to sound as gentle as possible, he didn’t want to put out her spark just as she’d gotten it back. 

She frowned at that. Suddenly he wished he could see what was beneath her skull, and have as smart a brain as hers. She gritted her teeth, looking like she wanted to tear her hair out. 

“I’ll go undercover! I’ve got it all figured out, I’ll be Pidg-”

“Yeah yeah tell me later okay? I want to eat these.” 

She nodded in agreement, setting the menu back down to see that Lance and Hunk had been listening in on their conversation. Hunk looked a little guilty, but Lance looked interested and smug. 

Lance grinned, and stuck out his tongue, a mischievous glint in his eyes. 

“Undercover, aye? Katie, you sneaky little gremlin.” 

“Look Lance, I need to get into that school, I need to find out what happened to Matt.” 

Lance and Hunk exchanged glances, a silent exchange between them, as if discussing and weighing options. 

“And Shiro.” Keith chimed in. 

Nervous excitement sent chills down his spine, and his found his leg bouncing up and down in anticipation. Maybe Katie was right, they needed to gather information about the disappearance, and what better place to start then the place that had sent them out only for them not to return?  
If Katie was smart about this (Which she would be, Katie’s plans were usually full proof), then they might find the lead they needed. 

“Wait, as in, _the_ Shiro? The famous pilot? My hero? Why would you want to find him as well?” Lance asked, he was talking to him. Keith took a deep breath, knowing that Lance may or may not believe him. No matter what he said. 

“He’s my brother.” 

\- - -

The two had always been close. When Keith had been adopted by the Shirogane’s, he had been… difficult at first. The parents weren’t sure whether or not to keep him, he was a strange boy, known to lash out suddenly at the slightest of skin-contact, and he had a strange fascination with colors, particularly the hue of the sky, blue.  
The parents were as gentle as possible with the short-tempered young boy, but to no avail. The boy would only answer to one. 

Shiro. 

From the moment Keith had stepped into the home, he hadn’t run to the inviting room decorated for him specially, or the food held out to him, or the toys, he had run to the white haired boy. The boy who would soon be referred to as his brother. 

One could say they had hit it off. 

Keith would not answer to his parents, but to Shiro, and that was enough to keep him for. The boys had become too attached for Shiro’s parents to give him up, they knew that Shiro would put up a fight for the boy.

As time went on, Shiro shone as a star-pupil in all classes, known to be a kind and willing boy that worked hard to earn results. The teachers loved him, and so did the students around him. The boy had talent from the first day of elementary school. 

While Keith was the boy with ‘issues’. 

It started off small, a note from a teacher saying that Keith wasn’t participating in class or replying to questions. Small disputes. 

Then it got worse. Black eyes, bruises, cuts, then bandages, and blood. 

Then calls from the hospital.

It wasn’t easy. The parents couldn’t escape the inevitable hospital bills they were handed.

Keith didn’t seem to understand the concept of thinking, all he ‘thought’ was that he thrived off of other’s pain, his muscles ruled over his brain, and blood excited him. Violence was always the obvious answer to every problem. Didn’t matter what, just that he would always resort to fists instead of words. Fight for survival was his instinct, if something went wrong, then a punch would be the response. 

He avoided talking to his parents about it, to Keith, the only person that understood was Shiro, and nobody else. 

Misunderstood. Just like the color. Was it love or hate or anger? That’s why he was red.

\- - -

“Eh. I figured” Keith looked up, shocked. Lance had guessed? 

_And...now I feel like an idiot. Of course he guessed._

“H-how did you know?” Keith staggered, feeling a headache coming on, keeping up with Lance’s swing of moods was exhausting. Just as he felt comfortable, he’d be tossed into the chaos known as Lance. 

“Well, you don’t look like him, but ‘Keith’ sounded familiar, he must have mentioned you during speeches or something.” Lance brushed off the coincidence like it was nothing, and continued to munch on his cupcake. 

Keith felt there was something more to that, but he didn’t push it. That was the end of that. He refrained from letting his gaze lingering on Lance for too long. He tore open his cupcake, revealing the soft velvet inside, and took a bite. Letting the soft treat coat his tongue. 

“So we doing this or what?” Hunk asked. All four of them glanced at each other, determined. 

“Duh, we’re going to kick ass at that school.” Lance laughed, speaking for all of them.  
Keith grinned, he made it sound so easy. 

\- - -

The studying part of it wasn’t easy. Not with Lance around. Especially when there a large part of the exam that included theory and engineering, then there was a flying exam, to see if you could actually pilot a ship successfully. You’d be put together in a team of three and pilot a ship to assess skill, time management, control, and the ability to work as a team. 

Lance groaned for the 50’th time that day. Hitting his face with the book he was reading; “Basics guide to flight”. Keith desperately refrained himself from throwing the book in his face. Though it was admittedly boring, It had to be done, and frankly, Keith actually enjoyed reading. It was a quiet escape from worldly problems. If Lance weren’t here he could concentrate better. 

Hunk and Katie were reading a book together on engineering, and sketching out diagrams of ship parts, and typing up a report on various technical difficulties that could potentially occur and how to deal with them. They worked well together, mixing their ideas and strategies. 

While Keith was stuck with, well, Lance. 

“Look, Lance, if you want to leave, you’re more than welcome to.” Keith grunted, flipping a page in his book, and scribbling down a few notes to revise later. There was a lot to learn, and with only a few months to study for it, the squad of four knew they would need to come here a lot as Hunk and Lance’s apartment wasn’t ideal for a study area. ‘Too many distractions’ Katie had said. 

“I would mullet, trust me, if Hunk weren’t here I would have left already.” Lance answered, sneering, before placing the book back on his head. 

“Aw thanks buddy.” Hunk called, overhearing his statement. 

“No problem buddy.” Lance said sweetly. 

“Hey buddy if you could focus that would be great, thanks.” Keith gritted his teeth as Lance groaned once again, setting the book down finally, and started to read the first few pages before slamming back on the table and falling off his chair for the millionth time. 

Studying was obviously not Lance’s strong point. 

His mom had tried to call him again throughout the week, claiming he was being a burden to Holt, while Katie managed to convince her time and time again that he wasn’t, that he barely ate anyway, and that it was no problem. 

It was a miracle really. Keith had no idea how Katie managed to keep their parents off their backs throughout that week, he also marveled at the way Lance and Hunk didn’t seem to mind their stay either. Instead they seemed to be enjoying having guests stay over. 

_Patience yields focus, patience yields focus, patience yields-_

"Hey Keith..."

"What is it Lance?" He was ready to break or explode (probably both) at any second, he had had enough of this, this... Lance person. 

"What's Shiro like?"

Lance sounded genuinely interested, which stumped Keith. What could he say? That Shiro was actually a huge dork who loved memes and was obsessed with eyeliner? 

"Uh... he's cool, I think he'd like you actually." It was true. Shiro probably would. 

"Really? Also, is he into memes?" Lance asked, and bounced up and down in his seat, rocking on his chair. 

"He's-" Keith started to answer. It was true. Shiro was the person who informed him of all the new memes. 

"Don't answer him Keith, he's just trying to prove a bet." Hunk looked up from his book, cutting him off. 

"But Shiro _is_ into memes." Keith said. 

"Oh. my. gosh. I _knew_ it!" Lance jumped out of his seat immediately, galloping over to Lance and Hunk, who both face palmed looking very disappointed in Keith. Lance held out one hand, cackling gleefully. Victorious. 

"Pay up, losers." Hunk and Katie both rolled their eyes, reaching into their wallets and pulling out ten dollars each, handing it to Lance hesitantly, who gleefully accepted it. Hunk and Katie were not impressed, and gave Keith the death stare for the rest of the day. Keith felt sweat drip down his neck, their stares burned that back of his head as he turned around, somehow he knew they would get pay back at some point. Even idiots knew that two against one was not a good sign. 

\- - - 

"I need you guys to start calling me Pidge." 

Lance, Hunk and Keith looked mortified, when Katie suddenly sprung on them with a new name and new pronouns. 

"And refer to me as 'he' or 'him'." Katie continued. 

Silence. They had just finished studying and were exiting the library, books in arms, exhausted.

Lance was the first to speak. 

"But, _why?"._

Katie took a deep breath, this would be awkward, she was well aware of that, but it needed to be done. For her to enroll in the garrison, she'd need to fake an identity as a male 16 year old. It wouldn't be easy for them to refer to her with this new identity, but it was their only option. 

"Look, I need you guys to get used to it before we enter the garrison, forget 'Katie Holt', _please._ From now on." She was trembling, Keith suddenly felt even more tired. A few months ago, he would never have thought of even enrolling. Now he was studying hard for it, along with two new friends and Katie. 

He needed to sleep this whole thing off. 

"Okay, Pidge." Keith breathed. The name felt odd on his tongue, as opposed to 'Katie' this 'Katie' that. It would take some getting used to, but all in all, he felt an odd familiarity with the name. It suited her. 

\- - - 

As soon as they were back at the apartment, Hunk and Keith both crashed on separate couches, both collapsing from exhaustion. After laying a blanket over the both of them, Lance could barely stand, as he was heading to bed after brushing his teeth, he caught Pidge staring into the mirror. 

"Lance." Pidge 

"Mhm?" Lance yawned, blinking away sleep before joining her in the bathroom. 

"Cut my hair." Pidge said, handing him a pair of scissors, and continued to stare at the mirror. 

"Cut your-what now?!" Lance almost fell over. 

He'd cut hair before, sure, he'd cut his siblings and own hair lots of times to save money back home, but he never imagined Pidge asking _him_ to do it, he knew that Pidge was especially fond of her hair. 

"You heard me. Cut it. A little below my ears." Pidge muttered, and pointed at her long brown hair, but her eyes remained on her reflection. She couldn't remove her eyes from it. 

It was as if she was looking at Katie Holt for the last time. 

"O-okay." Lance was honestly too tired to argue with her, if she wanted him to cut her hair, then he'd do it. 

He started off slow, brushing her hair first then positioning the scissors at one side of her face. Pidge swallowed and nodded vigorously. Lance began slowly chopping her hair off, working his way around her head, being as careful as possible to avoid cutting her face. Bits and strands of her long hair dropped to the ground with a soft 'plop', until he cut off the last section. 

Her hair stuck up on the sides, and with the fringe still there, she had a more 'boyish' look to her now. Her face and neck felt exposed and vulnerable without her hair framing her features. 

"Mmm...G'nite, Pidge. Nice hair." Lance yawned through his sentence, barely able to see through his exhaustion. 

The door shut behind him with a click. She heard him flop onto his bed and immediately begin snoring. In his absence, she felt alone.

She turned to stare at the mirror again as if she were looking at a stranger. She was transformed, Katie Holt was gone. 

Bending down to rummage through her backpack, she picked out Matt's old reading glasses, and dusting them off a little, she looked them over. They looked just like Harry potter glasses. Putting them on, the metal was cold on her nose and cheeks. Turning back to the mirror once again, she was greeted with a sense of longing, she felt a cold tear run down her face. 

'My name is Pidge Gunderson.' She mouthed silently into the mirror. 

She slid down the bathroom door, till she sat on the floor. Hugging her knees, she buried her tear stained cheeks in her hands. Pidge ripped off the glasses and flung them across the room. Tears spilling down her face. 

_I look...just like him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a little short, sorry about that! next chapter will be longer, I swear.


	3. Chapter 3

The change of name and pronouns was weird, especially when all three of them knew her true identity, but slowly they began to accept it. Pidge just didn’t feel quite right. Calling someone different than what you’ve known for your whole life was going to take time. 

There were those moments of awkwardness when Keith would accidentally call her Katie, and Lance and Hunk would give him a meaningful look, and he would realize his mistake. Pidge would say it was okay for them to mess up, but on closer inspection, it was obviously taking a toll on her, as if she herself hadn’t quite transitioned from being Katie to Pidge. Nobody knew quite why she had decided on the name ‘Pidge’, and nobody wanted to ask. 

Studying was becoming a tiresome chore on all of them, and they’d often stay at the library the whole day, struggling to figure out one word. Lance seemed to finally comprehend how serious it was that they all passed, and had locked down into what Hunk called ‘Full-panic mode’. It stayed like that for a few weeks, Study, then go to the local cafe for lunch, and then sleep or play video games. Pidge and Keith visited home as often as they could, but mostly slept over and stayed at Lance’s and Hunk’s apartment. It was hard, knowing that they’d have to leave home completely in a month or so, so they tried to be at home for as little as possible. Claiming to be studying for the new school year. 

Besides, Pidge’s mom did not approve of her new haircut. 

With the application deadline incoming, Keith knew he’d have to tell his parents sometime or another, that he’d be leaving to study at the garrison, he had no clue how he would convince them to pay for the enrollment, that is, if he even passed the exam.  
The four of them were currently at the library, lounging around, not really studying, but revising. With the exam approaching, they had officially learned all they had to, but were memorizing everything. Pidge was asleep upright on a chair, with her head on the table. Nobody had dared waking her up, and Hunk was still going strong by some miracle, writing another report, reviewing the benefit of ship weaponry. 

Keith sighed, rethinking why he had even started doing this whole thing, and held yet another flashcard up, waiting for Lance to give him the definition.  
Lance sighed loudly before answering, leaning forward to make out the words. 

“The angle at which the gears should be held for acceleration, if they are angled too forward, the ship will descend or go off-course, also resulting in a hazardous jolt that could potentially affect passengers that are towards the helm of the ship.” Lance answered, flat-toned.  


“Correct.” Keith shuffled the flashcards again, the paper sliding against his gloved fingers.  
He held up another flashcard for Lance, he too, was bored out of his mind. They had been here for hours, if he had to estimate, he would say they were here at least seven hours of the day. Maybe it was unhealthy, but he knew it was required, they needed to do this.  
Lance stayed silent, leaning on his chair back, and throwing his head back to gaze at the high ceiling. 

“Lance, flash card? You there?” Keith waved the flash card around, trying to get his attention. 

Lance stayed silent, as if in a daze, they two of them reviewed the flashcards at least ten times each that day, maybe Lance did need a break, he had gotten them all correct the last run throughs anyway. 

“Hunk, the arcade!” Lance yelped as he lost his balance, falling onto the floor. His chair clattered to the floor, but he ignored it. 

Hunk looked up from his work. Rubbing the back of his neck and stretching, he shut his book abruptly. 

“I don’t know Lance, we haven’t been there in years. Plus, we should really be studying.”  
Hunk sighed, struggling to convince himself to keep studying. Even he looked tired. 

All three of them looked at Pidge, who was still snoring quietly, her glasses askew. She had stayed up late last night, working out the mechanics for something or rather that Keith hadn’t bothered to look at. Thinking harder, he hadn’t even seen her go to bed that night, she’d probably stayed awake through the whole night, working. 

“I guess we could all use a little break…” Hunk trailed off, still not completely convinced, his eyes flicked from his report and back to Lance, and then to Pidge. It didn’t take much to convince him. He sighed in defeat and began to file his papers back into his binder, grimacing at the way some of them crinkled. He’d have to reword his report later that night. 

“Yes! Thank you, Hunk!” Lance cried, running over to immediately squeeze him in a tight hug. Hunk laughed heartily, attempting to peel him off.

 _I guess we’re going to the arcade then._

“C’mon, Pidge. Pidge!? Pidge…” Keith groaned, realizing just how deeply she was sleeping, her hair looked ruffled, and her position hardly looked comfortable, it was a wonder she had even fallen asleep in the first place. Grabbing onto one shoulder, he shook her awake. 

“Mmmm… what? What time is it?” Pidge mumbled, sitting up straight. She looked exhausted, rubbing her eyes and straightening her glasses she yawned, shaking herself awake. She looked even more tired than Keith felt, even her eyes were out of focus slightly. 

“It’s only 2, you fell asleep. Come on, we’re going to the arcade.” Hunk assured her. 

“Wake me up next time.” Pidge yawned through her sentence, blinking a few times to get used to severe light hitting her eyes. Hunk frowned when she stood up shakily, and proceeded to piggyback her out of the library, Pidge barely protested, grateful for the help, sighing comfortably, she settled herself on Hunk’s back. Keith found himself wondering if Hunk would give him a piggyback sometime, it looked fun. Still, he wasn’t one to ask for physical contact. 

“So, Lance…” Keith paused, he hadn’t really gotten used to initiating conversations with him. Usually, it was Lance, with his bubbly personality, who handled social situations better.  
“Where is this mysterious arcade?” Lance tilted his head to the side in disbelief.  
“Are you serious?” He almost shrieked, his voice high pitched. Keith frowned.

“Hunk, get me away from him, he doesn’t know where the arcade is.” Hunk shook his head in utter disappointment, Pidge mentally facepalmed, groaning at Keith’s incompetence.  
“What? What’s so good about an arcade?” Keith’s voice cracking slightly at the end.

“Ok, first of all, it’s not just ‘an’ arcade, it’s _the_ arcade.” Lance stuck his tongue out teasingly. Keith’s frown deepened. He looked to Pidge and Hunk for help. 

“You’ll see what he means when we get there Keith.” Hunk offered no explanation. 

“Let us press on!” Lance whooped, before Keith knew it, they were all sprinting down the street towards an unknown destination, racing past confused people who gave them dirty looks from a distance, and for once, Keith didn’t care. 

\- - - 

The Arcade lived up to it’s name. It had a certain retro feeling to it. A juke box sat in the corner, LED lights glowing orange and green, blasting out David Bowie hits. The place was full of run down arcade games that looked like they belonged in the 80’s. The aesthetic was pleasing, the roof glittered with dozens of cheap, glow-in-the-dark stars and planets. The walls had murals of what seemed like a child’s depiction of an alien and astronauts. Huh, whoever ran this arcade must really like outer-space. 

The air was pungent with an almost overbearing smell of cheesy pizza and a vague aroma of leather couches and corn dogs. There was sparse furniture, but that wasn’t a problem, the few people that were around were glued to their screens, mashing buttons in a precise rhythm. Some were cradling their joysticks with both hands, giving the game their full attention. 

“Wow.” Keith breathed, awestruck. It was truly a wondrous sight to behold, he’d never seen anything so flashy or vibrant. Let alone ever set foot in an arcade before. 

“Right?” Lance grinned, the pink neon light dancing on his cheeks. Suddenly, he shrieked in delight and rushed towards where an array of different games sat. He danced around, sliding his hands across their shiny surfaces as if to say hello. It was obvious he had spent a lot of his childhood here. Even Hunk looked excited, not nearly as much as Lance but still.

“Ew Lance. They’re just games.” Pidge grunted, disapproval in her eyes, almost disgusted with his attachment to the games. 

“They’re family Pidge.” Lance stroked the one closest to him fondly, softly crooning to it. It was little dusty, painted baby blue with comets decorating it’s sides, which Keith thought oddly suited Lance. It was clear this one was his favorite. Keith followed him sheepishly, feeling a little odd in the fresh setting. 

Adjacent to “Blue.” was a pastel red, not quite pink, but close to it, pin-ball machine. He felt drawn to it, it looked fun. He had to admit, out of all these coin-operated machines, this was his favourite. However, he didn’t get a chance to play it because of a certain Cuban boy.

“Hey, pretty boy.” That caught Keith’s attention, he snapped his neck around to answer with a retort, and fought to ignore the fluttering in his chest.  
“You ever played air hockey before?” He turned around to see Lance draped over the game, smirking. This was obviously a challenge. Keith tskd. He had played, once, with Shiro. He got thrashed, but in his books, it counted.

Keith strutted over, taming his long hair into a ponytail on the way, determination fueling his tired brain. He just barely comprehended how bad of a decision he was making.  
“Oh, you are so going down, ponytail.” These nicknames were going to end Keith’s miserable life. He almost tripped over his own foot.  
He gritted his teeth, cracking his knuckles in an attempt to seem intimidating and stretching his arms over his head, exposing his midriff. Lance got a little stuck there, he swallowed hard. Don’t think about it. Keith has a perfectly toned body, so what? Keith snapped him out of his own trance before he could linger on the thought for a dangerous amount of time.  
“Dream on.” Keith mentally kicked himself, hard. What the fuck had he gotten himself into? 

Lance readied himself, inserted a nickel in the slot, grabbed the puck and tossed it onto Keith’s side. He winked.  
“I’ll go easy on you.” 

After a few minutes of Keith having only one score, with Lance on three, Keith bit his lip. Maybe he got a little cocky. His breath was slightly laboured, while Lance looked as fresh as a daisy. Whatever, he was still going to try his hardest to kick Lance’s ass. Setting his jaw, he waited for the puck to come to his side.  
When it did, he struck it hard, it rebounded from the left, and straight into his goal. Keith mentally patted himself on the back, a little more swagger into his posture.  
“So you can aim.” Lance teased, his tone mockingly surprised, setting the puck in front of him, ready to go in for another shot. Keith cracked his neck to the side.

“Whatever, sharpshooter.” 

\- - - 

Pidge cupped her hands around her mouth, imitating a game-referee voice, Hunk trying not to do the same while remaining a bystander.  
“They’re neck and neck, Lance leads by only three points! Keith goes for the shot and… he misses! Misses by a long shot really-” 

_“-Not helping Pidge!”_ Keith growled, groaning as another one of Lance’s killer shots makes it past his… not so good defense. 

“Noted.” Pidge gave him a sarcastically annoying thumbs up. Keith looked to the right of him to shoot her ‘a look’ to get her to shut up, but gaped when Lance took that as an opportunity to score another goal. 

_Fuuuuck._ He was honestly ready to give up at this point, he was now five points behind. 

“Focus, Keith! I want you to see my next shot...” Lance bit his tongue, his steel grip on his striker growing deadlier. 

The puck exploded, bouncing from left to right, rebounding until it hit its target. To Keith’s dismay, it was a perfect shot, over and done before his eyes could even begin to pick up the movement. Lance grinned at his own skill.

“How are you so good at this game?” Keith found himself asking, he was genuinely curious. There was obviously some skill behind the force Lance had behind the way he was playing. He was impressed.

“I come from a big family! Gotta learn how to survive, ya know?” Lance shouted over the blaring music in the background, syncing yet another shot, he passed his striker from one hand to the other, and quick like lightning blocking an attempt from Keith to shoot while he was gloating. Lance ran a hand over his forehead to wipe away sweat. “You pick up a few things!” With a flick of his wrist, he ended the game with a boom. Winning by seven points. 

Pidge handed a dollar over to Hunk, sighing in disapproval. She didn’t seem that surprised. Hunk cheered, waving the money high in the air, and high-fived Lance in victory, they linked arms and together rushed over to a two player game, laughing all the way. 

“You were... betting on us?” Keith asked, trying to catch his breath again. 

“Of course. And you failed me.” Pursing her lips, she zipped up her wallet and placed it in her back-pocket again. Pidge shook her head, quite clearly disappointed in him. 

Hell, he was disappointed in himself too. 

“Food?” Keith offered, finding his eyes on the counter. There were several pictures that stood out to him, brightly lit-up lights bordered them, grabbing his attention. 

“I’m down.” Pidge nodded, her eyes following his. 

“Yo! Lance, Hunk! We’re gonna go get food!” Pidge called to them. No reply. When she looked closer, they were both too invested in a game of Tron to hear her, it looked like they were having fun. Rolling her eyes, she and Keith approached the counter and skimmed over their options. 

As they approached, Pidge waved to the girl managing the food counter. The two obviously knew each other. Keith made out her features better when they made it to her, in the darkly lit arcade, it was hard to see properly. 

She was a stoic girl, with short brown hair, tanned brown skin, and round-ish like cheeks. She leaned down to high-five Pidge. 

“Hi Shay!” 

“Sup Pidge, how’s the gang doing?” Keith noticed the fondness in her voice, though as Pidge and her spoke to one another, Shay kept averting her eyes to look behind them. When Keith followed her line of sight, he realized that she kept looking at Hunk. Although Shay tried to pay attention to Pidge as best she could, it was obvious that the girl wanted to talk to Hunk instead. 

Weird. 

“You guys haven’t been here in awhile! What can I get for you?” Shay offered.

“The usual, what about you Keith?” Pidge started to count out her money, in means to pay for the both of them. 

“Yeah, can I get, uhhhhhhh…” Keith trailed off, he hadn’t even looked at the pictures. Skimming through the brightly colored menu, only one stood out. “Chilli cheese fries please.” 

“Excellent choice. Keith was it? Nice to meet you.” She tapped her chin, and extended one arm to shake hands. 

“Uh, yeah.” Keith replied quietly. She took no notice of his shyness, and took his hand immediately. Keith winced, her grip was surprisingly strong. 

Way to make conversation.

Shay didn’t seem bothered, not in the slightest. 

“Anyways, here are your orders! Say hello to Hunk and Lance for me will you? I don’t think they’ll come over anytime soon… judging by how competitive they get with Tron haha...” She thrust their orders at them, one order of chili cheese fries and an oreo milkshake for Pidge. 

“Sure thing Shay, see ya around okay?” Pidge smiled, sliding the payment, and took her milkshake eagerly. Milky white with little chunks of oreo decorating it, and a green swirly straw making it quite decorative. Keith looked down at his chilli cheese fries, in their golden glory, the smell reached his nose, eager to dig in. 

“Definitely, see ya Keith, Pidge.” Shay waved them goodbye and turned to take a large group of tween’s orders, she greeted them with a smile despite them being rowdy and rude. Keith didn’t know how she handled the ruckus. 

“She’s got a huge crush on Hunk by the way, in case you didn’t notice.” Pidge whispered, and took a huge slurp of her milkshake as the two walked across the squishy carpet back to Lance and Hunk. Hunk seemed to be winning, Lance was groaning and attempting to cheat by pushing Hunk to the side, but Hunk retaliated fast, shoving him back. 

“Hmm? Oh, right. I figured.” Keith mumbled, his eyes didn’t move from Lance and Hunk, he was still in awe of their closeness. They were all over each other, in a warm kind of way, shoving each other hard, but looking fondly at one another when they thought the other wasn’t looking. 

“Wow Keith, sometimes you do pay attention.” Pidge nudged him hard in the ribs to stop him from staring at Lance. Keith frowned as his limbs were jostled, almost sending his fries to the floor. He just wanted to eat his fries in peace. 

“Well yeah! She was just looking at him the whole time! How could I not notice?” Keith exclaimed, careful not to drop his fries. The thought of the pile of them scattering to the floor made him sick. He did not like the thought of wasted food. Especially chilli cheese fries. 

“True, true. She really likes him.” Pidge agreed, taking another slurp of her milkshake. 

“Well, what about Hunk? Does he like her?” Keith looked to Hunk, who was cheering in victory, after slaughtering Lance at Tron. Throwing his large arms into the air, laughing madly. 

“Now that my friend, is the hard truth.” Pidge sighed, setting her milkshake down, and putting one hand on his shoulder. 

“What is?” Keith dipped one golden chip in sauce, chewing on it experimentally. 

“They like each other, they just don’t know it yet.” Pidge answered, clasping her hands together evilly. Hunk had a huge crush on Shay in fact, had for almost a year, and it was painstakingly obvious to everyone around them except for the two of them apparently. The two had only spoken once (and it had gone horribly slow on both their parts) 

“Seriously!? If they like each other, why don’t you just tell them?” Keith spluttered through a mouth full of chips, sending a few clattering to the floor. 

Pidge took out the straw from her mouth, looking him directly in the eyes, as if there was more to what she was saying than what she let on. 

“Sometimes, you just gotta let things happen naturally… it ruins the magic if you force it.” 

“Wha-” 

“-Oooo food! Nice!” A swift hand swooped down from above, snatching a few fries from his plate. A dust of flaky salt and crumbs showered down. 

Keith whipped around to identify the food thief. 

Lance. Why wasn’t he surprised? 

“Thanks Keith!” Lance mumbled around a mouthful of half-chewed fries. He shot him a thumbs up. Before Keith could say anything, he and Hunk galloped away, arms linked. Ready to take on another game. 

“I’m going to kill you Lance!” Keith shouted after them, too tired to chase after him and challenge him to a fist-fight. “I’m gonna…” Keith sighed, picking at his leftover fries, glowering at the place Lance’s hand had stolen some. Staring after Lance, his loud and rowdy laughter echoing back and forth, he felt a small seed of longing start to grow within him. 

Keith aimlessly continued to eat away at what was left of his fries. 

Pidge adjusted her glasses, swinging her legs over and onto the table and leaned back on her chair. Taking a long swig of milkshake, finishing off the cup, and dumping it in the bin behind her, she crossed her arms, looking at him pityingly.

“Let it happen naturally Keith, let it happen naturally.” 

\- - - 

“Ugh… did we have to take so many?” Keith’s eyebrows furrowed, frustrated at the long string of photos that had been taken. His eyes darted to all of them. In all of them, he had the same expression on his face, and he definitely wasn’t smiling in any of them, and it bothered the hell out of him. Why hadn’t he just smiled? 

Lance snatched them out of his hand, obviously pleased with them. 

“Yes! Of course we had to! Plus, we- well-I look good in all of them!” Lance waved the string of photo’s they had taken in the photo booth, fluttering them about. 

In most of them, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk had jumped into different poses, sticking their tongues out, while Keith had been less enthusiastic. It had been a huge effort on his part to even squeeze into a small space with all of them. 

It had been Hunk’s suggestion. 

“Sorry, I have a habit of taking photo’s whenever we hang out.” Hunk whispered apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“It’s getting late, you guys staying over or…?” Lance looked to them for an answer. Pidge and Keith hardly had to exchange a glance. 

“Uh, duh!” 

Lance and Hunk looked pleased, always happy when Keith and Pidge came over, they decided to get the bus home. Flopping onto the soft chairs, Lance, Keith, and Pidge were soon asleep, snoring softly. Hunk groaned, knowing (and dreading) that he’d have to wake them to get them off the bus at some point. He checked the time. 2AM. Hunk sighed, watching the street lamps flicker by. 

\- - - 

Each step took her closer inside, up the concrete cracked stairs, the weeds peaking up and out of the crevices. Pidge gritted her teeth when she saw them, she knew that her mother had stopped weeding their yard, but it still hurt. Everything that made her mother who she was, was swept away with the chances of Matt coming back. 

Pidge quietly opened the door to her house, wincing when it creaked harshly, maybe she could get Hunk to come by and fix it? At first there was no sound, but then she picked up the unmistakable sound of washed dishes clinking to rest on the drying rack. 

“Hey, mom.” Pidge dumped her bag on the counter, adjusting her glasses nervously. She had decided she was going to tell her about the plan. Pidge hated keeping secrets. Her mom turned around, looking slightly dazed. 

“Hi Matt- I mean, Katie.” She corrected herself too late. 

An awkward pause. Her mother took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, Katie. It’s just... you look so much-” 

She choked up and brought Pidge in for a hug, and her apprehension dissolved a little. Pidge squeezed back, melting into her mother’s arms, she was warm. In that moment, she was drawn back, and just for a little flickering moment, the light flittered in and reflected in her mother’s eyes, as if she was still the strong mother she had been.

She hadn’t been home in a couple days, let alone stay for the night. She mostly just came by to check on mom, it couldn’t be easy for her husband and son missing and her only daughter running loose.

“Need a hand?” Pidge offered, pulling away out of the embrace and grabbing a teatowel without waiting for a reply. It wasn’t like there was a lot with barely two people using them.  
“Thanks, how are the Shirogane's? Have they been feeding you? Are they-” Her motherliness kicking in as she rambled about her well-being. 

“Mom... mom.” Pidge groaned, waving her hands to grab her attention. “They’re fine.” 

“Right, of course. They’re lovely boys, it’s a wonder how they put up with you.”

“Hey mom-” 

“-You know… school starts up next week.” Pidge’s mother looked her right in the eyes, and stopped washing dishes, a plate in her hands. She had her paralyzed. This was it. She had to tell her.

Pidge took a deep shuddering breath, already bracing herself for the aftermath. She considered her options, get Lance, Hunk or Keith to somehow pay for her entry fees, hack the school system, maybe even steal… but none of that would feel right. She didn’t want to leave her mother in the dark. She had had enough grief already. Putting that kind of grief of losing their last child would destroy what was left of the woman who had raised her. 

The mother who raised her, fed her, taught her everything, deserved to know something like this. 

_“I’m-I’m going to the garrison!”_

The plate that was in her mother’s hand fell to the kitchen floor, shattering to pieces beneath them.  
Her mother swayed on her feet, and staggered to the nearest chair and collapsed, dazed.  
The dishes were long forgotten. 

“Katie… be a dear and could you clean this up for me? Just-just give me a moment.” She murmured and rested her head in her hands, suddenly very, very tired. Pidge went rigged, ready to bolt out the door right then and there. 

“O-okay!” Pidge yelped, a little too sharply. Pidge hurriedly picked up the broken pieces, careful not to step on any. 

“Mom, I’m, I mean- I really want to go. And I’ll work really hard, I’ve been studying for months, I know I can pass the exam and-Ow!” Pidge dropped what she was doing, and looked down at her hand, frowning at the red that caught her eye, blood was welling from a cut on her finger.

With that, her mother shot from her chair in an instant, and pulled a band-aid and a dab of gauze from her apron pocket.

“Hold still.” 

She bent down, dabbing at the cut, red staining the gauze. Pidge winced at the touch, it stung. Her mother simply unwrapped the bandage, and smoothed it over the clean wound, then patting her head, she stood back up, brushing down her apron. 

“You and Matt always got yourselves cut on the metal and toys you played with…” She sighed wistfully, staring blankly out the window. Pidge was dumbfounded, and abandoned the broken plate, standing up to join her mother at the window. 

“You were funny children, you never seemed interested in soft toys, dolls or the usual kind of kid-stuff, it was always… _creating_ with you too, whether it was play-dough, drawing, lego, or even random bits of metal you found on the ground. It was always building that interested you.” She whispered, smoothing out the crinkles of her shirt, folding her hands neatly in her lap. 

_When you smile, I fall apart, and I thought I was so smart._

“Look Mom, I know what you’re going to say-” 

“Let me finish.” Pidge and her made eye contact, identical mother and daughter, the same fire in their eyes. 

“Katie, I _knew_ you were studying for it. I just knew, from the moment you were born, I knew you were going to be a child with tremendous strength. Katie, you are a _fighter.”_

_If we lay a strong enough foundation_

Katie’s mother began to sob, the fire gone, replaced with love and sentiment. 

“I was afraid you weren’t going to tell me yourself, but I’m glad you did. Don’t worry about the school fees, I’ll pay for it-all of it. Somehow.” She whispered. 

_We’ll pass it on to you, we’ll give the world to you_

Pidge felt a huge weight lift off her chest, and ran to her. For the second time, her mother folded her into a bear hug, holding the back of her head against her chest. Pidge felt content, her heart swelling with love, the burning desire to leave wasn’t as bright as before.

“Take care of those boys, make sure they don’t do anything rash, especially Keith.” Her voice muffled through the hug. 

“I leave tomorrow for the exam. If I don’t pass, I’ll come straight home.” Pidge promised. 

_And you’ll blow us all away._

“Oh trust me, you will. Holt’s never fail a test.” 

They separated, the warmth gone, a laugh caught in her throat. Pidge swallowed and looked to her duffel-bag, filled to the brim with supplies.

“Got everything?” Her mother said, one hand resting on Pidge's face, her thumb rubbing across her daughter's cheek. 

Pidge nodded, slinging the duffel bag over her shoulder and ran out the door, smiling for the last time. 

_Someday, someday  
Yeah, you’ll blow us all away_

Her mother watched her daughter leave, slamming the yard gate behind her, her duffel bag bouncing, and running out across the driveway gravel towards Hunk’s car, her mother still waving madly from the porch as the car drove out of sight. She waved frantically, as if sending her daughter to war, waiting for the day of her return.

_Someday, someday_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fell in love with this chapter ahhh yes klance fluff. Goodbye Mrs Holt, bless her soul, seriously. 
> 
> Song - Dear Theodosia (Hamilton the musical)


	4. Red licorice

“Pass the licorice yo.” Pidge tossed a packet or red licorice to him whilst tugging off a bit of her own piece with her teeth.

“Hunk, you said we could each pick a different snack and we’d get a bag...” Keith scrambled around in the bag, pulling out a bite-size piece and examining it in his hands. It’s red, twisty texture was bendable and smelt of strawberries. He popped the piece into his mouth.

“Yeah, and?” Hunk asked, obviously not bothered by his tone. Keith caught his eye in the mirror. Hunk smiled sympathetically for a moment, knowing exactly what he was talking about, before moving his focus back to the road.

“So explain to me, why we have four whole bags of licorice?” The car hit a bump in the road, sending the packet in his lap bouncing onto the floor. The packet split open and it’s contents scattered across the car’s carpeted floor. Keith rolled his eyes, leaning and wanting to sink back into the leather chair. Yearning for the leather to swallow up his limbs. 

“Three. We now have _three_ bags of licorice.” Keith face-palmed, they were going to be driving for the next three hours to make it to a hotel, and the next morning they’d take the exam.

Pidge shrugged, and snaked her hand down to pick up one of the pieces off the floor. Pidge stuck her tongue at him when she caught him watching. Then pressed one finger to her lips after swallowing it. 

_Whatever Pidge, eat whatever the hell has been on this floor for all I care._

“To answer your previous question young Keith, um, because red licorice is the best?” Lance grinned, then proceeded to cram five pieces into his mouth at once. 

“Sorry Keith, when we get there, I’ll make sure to make something that isn’t red licorice.” Hunk promised, sighing a little tiredly, his tone sincere that all he could offer was the promise for food later, despite the lack of sleep prior, his grip remained steady on the wheel as to not send the car spiralling into a ditch. 

Keith liked the sound of Hunk’s cooking, he had grown to accept whatever the hell he threw at him, no matter what it was, it was always delicious and fully welcomed by his stomach cravings. 

He could really use a touch of Hunk’s sense of flavor right now. 

Nobody had slept much the night before, and perhaps binging old shitty anime till 3 wasn’t a good idea and had not helped, but Lance and Hunk had agreed that if there was one thing they wanted to do before either getting accepted or flat out rejected, it was watching some crappy old anime from the 80’s. 

Something they both had some sort of attachment to that Keith could hardly relate to. All he could remember were oversized, over-accented eyes and neon colored characters, lot’s of crying from Lance and Hunk, and Pidge’s silent criticism, but love for the show keeping her mouth shut. He could feel her twitching the whole time obviously trying desperately to not call the show out for it’s poor style and character writing. 

Keith and Pidge had seen plenty of anime to know what was BS, and what was’t. 

They’d exchanged glances the whole time, and talked behind Lance and Hunk’s backs, discussing it’s flaws, and sometimes, it’s good points. At times complementing it’s animation, and also arguing which characters were stronger than others, resulting in a mini-debate between them, unnoticed by Lance and Hunk who were too captivated with the garbage anime. 

It seemed Pidge was still salty about it, currently tapping out a short report, compiled on her various arguments on why ‘X’ was better than ‘Y’. Keith knew she’d make him read it, and knowing Pidge, he’d probably agree with her half-way through reading it. Pidge was persuasive like that, besides, he had no argument to prove that ‘Y’ was stronger other than having more screen time. 

Maybe he should have done his research. 

Bringing them to the next morning, Hunk at the wheel, as he was the only one with a full driver's license, Lance riding shotgun, with Keith and Pidge in the back. The car was old, red, scratched and dented, and smelt faintly of sand and salt water. Like sand stuck to the bottoms of shoe soles, and wet, dripping togs, soggy with salt water, had been left in the back of the beat up truck to dry off. 

“Me and Lance go to the beach a lot, though it’s mostly him that swims.” Hunk said over the gentle thrum of tires against gravel, noticing his sniffing. 

“Oh...nice.” Keith murmured, it wasn’t hard to imagine Lance, the sun on his skin, setting his whole body aglow, hair damp with salt water, long limbs stretching out to catch wave after wave.

Water, blue, and Lance. As Hunk and Lance bickered, their voices blurred out and he was left alone, he felt an ominous feeling overcome him, a flicker of knowing. On the tip of his tongue, he knew there was more to the picture, another key factor was missing to the image. 

He dug deeper, trying to pick out the rest of the image. A tingling sensation bubbled across his body as he delved into the idea. 

_I need to know._

He pushed harder into his mind. 

A wild, present, translucent ghost of an animal-like figure was there. He lost himself in the image, trying to identify the animal, it was stoic, with broad shoulders, a well-defined snout, and fearless eyes. Soft hairs surrounding it’s head made up the creature. Not only that, it was blue, a bright, clear blue, the gold eyes blinked, and the sleek-furred creature ruffled it’s mane out.

Lance reached out, and pressed his hand confidently to it’s forehead, and the creature applied, leaning forward to press it’s head closer to the boy. Lance and the lion touched foreheads, the lion’s great breath billowing out tickling his cheeks, Lance threw his head back and laughed, eyes twinkling. The spray of the ocean hit his face and decorated the lion’s mane with droplets. 

_A blue...lion?_

On it’s own, Keith was utterly confused, why did he keep having this image in his head? What did water and a lion have anything to do with Lance? 

There was no way this was normal that he kept thinking about this. Crazy, even. He’d had dreams about it too, but not with Lance in them, not until he’d met the blue boy, and the dreams he’d had were nothing compared to the strong rippling impressions he kept receiving. 

He was crazy. That was it! Ha! he was insane- 

The volume of his surroundings suddenly were much more prominent as Lance spoke, the thrum of the car, Pidge’s scribbling as she doodled on the roof of the car, and Hunk’s humming as he tapped a rhythm on the steering wheel were back. 

The lion, the beach, and Lance were gone. 

“Yeah, Hunk sticks to surfing, but mostly rock pools ain't that right, big guy? He’s scared of the water.” Lance whispered the last part under his breath and snickered, giving Hunk a hearty shove. The wheel left Hunk’s hands for a moment, sending the car spiralling off-road. Hunk leaned over, unbuckling his seatbelt to give Lance a proper punch. Soon, they were scuffling. 

_“Oi!_ Watch the road!” Pidge shouted, and kicked the back of Hunk’s seat in front of her, clinging to the leather of her seat. 

Hunk glared at Lance, shoving him back, but there was no heat to it. Lance laughed, amused at Hunk’s soft attempt at a shove, and left him to focus on driving. 

“How long till we get there?” Keith asked, sliding down his seat into a more comfortable position, picking at the sand that remained stuck on the seat. 

“Another few hours.” Hunk replied, swiveling to the left to snatch a piece of red licorice from the bag. Pidge and Lance groaned in response, impatient to arrive already, but Keith remained silent. He was relieved, glad he could catch up on the sleep he’d lost the night prior. 

Keith’s eyelids drooped, his body giving up on staying awake any longer. His head throbbed less, as he drifted away, he thought of Lance, with the blue ocean stretching out behind him. With a jolt, he realized that he soon he’d be taking the first exam he had in almost two years, but he pushed the thought away completely, letting the ocean-blue thoughts of Lance mold into colour in his mind, and anything else fade away and become non existent. 

As the road went on, becoming smoother and less gravel-like, Keith was out completely. 

\- - 

“Wake up doofus, you fell asleep.” Were the first words he heard, not the best wake up call for him. 

Sassy, and undoubtedly Pidge. 

Blinking open his eyes, the harsh light hit his eyes, sending his head reeling. His head was throbbing even worse than when he had gone to sleep. It had been a bumpy ride, and sleeping upright wasn’t exactly healthy. His neck was aching where it had been pressed against the seat. Hunk winced.

“Yeah sorry, I was gonna wake you up but Lance said-”

“-You were drooling and you shouldn’t touch him, yep that’s what I said.” Lance interjected, glaring at Hunk pointedly. The look Lance sent firing at Hunk went on for a long moment of silence. Keith felt his face warm up.

“Anyway, we’re almost there, we’re just re-filling gas.” Hunk added, pulling into the gas station. Keith stretched, his limbs disagreeing at the movement. Groggily, he rubbed his eyes and checked the time. 

“This hotel better be good.” 

\- -

“It’ll be fine Pidge, you’re a genius.” Keith told Pidge, sounding a little more impatient.

The four were currently in Pidge and Hunk’s bed in their hotel room, organising for tomorrow, and helping them unpack. They hadn’t checked in yet, it was close to 11pm. Afterwards, Keith and Lance would go their apartment and unpack too, then they were meant to go out for food since Hunk was too tired to cook and knew a restaurant he’d been to before around here. 

Instead they had stopped to debate whether or not Pidge was going to pass or not while they walked to the reception desk, none of them wanted to sign in alone so they had decided to go as a group. 

“Well it’s fine for you, I have a reputation to uphold!” She whisper-shouted grumpily. Keith hummed, she was right about that. The Holt’s had always been a prestigious bloodline, brimmed with inventors, engineers, pilots, astronauts, psychiatrists, you name it, they achieved it, but not just 'achieved' they surpassed the best of the best with ease and confidence. 

“You’re not going under as a Holt though.” Hunk pointed out. What Keith had realized about Hunk, is that he sort of had no personal boundaries. It wasn’t exactly a bad thing per se. It just didn’t really resonate with him that some people liked personal space. 

“Oh yeah.” Pidge looked away, her tone a little dazed and tired, making Keith notice the dark circles under her eyes for the first time. It was rare that Pidge couldn’t come up with a snappy retort. She was keeping up a good front that was for sure. 

He begged himself to say the right thing. 

“Look, Pidge, you can spell the definitions and procedures backwards by now.” Keith assured her. She still looked unconvinced and she was wringing her hands repeatedly. 

“Sure, but-” Pidge started but her words caught in her throat as Keith placed his hands on her shoulders.

“Pidge, you’ll be ok.” He told her sternly. If there was one person who could ace a test with her eyes closed, it was Pidge. In that moment, Pidge felt tears begin to well up in her eyes for their confidence in her. Lance ruffled her hair. She clenched her fists and returned Keith’s determined stare this time, with conviction of her own. 

“Besides, when it’s all over, we have red licorice and anime to watch-” Lance mused, breaking away from the group, the others groaned at his words. 

“-Can you take this _seriously?”_

Sharp, knife-like words. 

“For once Lance, we don’t need your _shit.”_

Maybe it was the stress, maybe it was the licorice, maybe even the stupid trip he’d gotten himself stuck in. 

He didn’t know what came over him, there was something about those words, that started an itch in his fingers. An itch that turned into red, hot lava. It burned over his body, hot and acidic. Keith clenched his fists, his mouth ready to spill the lava out in words. The scorching heat was too much to keep in. He was tired.

Quiet. Keith didn’t dare look sideways to Pidge and Hunk, they remained silent. 

Keith’s eyes widened, a cold spike of dread pierced his side like a thorn when he’d come to a realization. He looked up to see Lance, Lance was open-mouthed, half-way through a Licorice, with a soft plop that was barely audible, it hit the ground. It sounded like thunder to his ears. 

The change in color was unreal. A moment ago, Lance had been blue like the sky, bubbling and cool, but Keith could feel the change. It was so sudden and flickering he almost missed it, the previous presence had been so familiar that it was jarring without it. He was damaged. Spilling over in clouds of hail and hurtling to the ground. 

Funny how fast people can change. 

The hurt was there, overshadowed with doubt and shock. 

Lance looked uncertain, unsure for the first time since he’d met him. It didn’t look right. Hurt clouded his gaze, till he dropped his eyes away, Keith wanted to look at him, he really did, but he found his own gaze falling away as well. 

“Uh I’ll go check us in, then maybe we’ll go out for some food.” 

Keith’s gaze followed his movements. He was shaking. At one point, Keith thought he was going to trip, but he caught himself. 

“Keith-” That was Pidge, he turned away. 

“Not now.”

Lance fumbled for the door, hands shaking, eyes glued to the ground. Keith watched, knowing he should do something, call out, make him turn around, tell him he was sorry. Instead he stared, Lance was long gone, out the door, but he didn’t remove his eyes from where Lance had been standing just moments before. 

“Oh no, I- I gotta go check if he’s okay. Look, I’ll see you guys later? Uh, _crap-_ Lance wait!” Hunk stumbled after him, picking his shoes up, and then he was gone too. 

“Keith-” Pidge’s eyes were red. Her glasses askew, her stance fiery. 

_“What?”_ He turned to face her, only to flinch at the intense wave of fury she let off, as if he’d been burnt. He’d never seen Pidge this angry before. He gritted his teeth, as if trying to stop himself for fucking this up too.

“I’m going to our Hotel room.” Keith slung his bag over his shoulder in a hurry, ignoring the items that spilled out onto the floor as he did so. He’d come back for them later. 

“You fucking _asshole.”_

Keith slammed the door behind him, so hard it rattled his wrist bones. It was childish, yes, but unfortunately the door was his chosen victim for his stress-relief. 

“Go take a walk Keith, cool-off.” Pidge sneered, her tone muffled through the door.  
Keith bit his tongue, and strode off. Thought the lengthy red-carpeted corridors were confusing, eventually, he found their room, Second floor, section B6, room 5. He crashed, falling into an uneasy sleep.

\- -

 _Bing._

A text.  
_3:35am received:_

Pidge: Let us in! We’ve been out here for 10 minutes already! 

Keith shot out of bed in a flash, and sat on the edge, ripping off the covers, he pulled on his jacket. It was chilly, he must have left the window open. 

_Bing._  
Another text.

 _3:35 am received:_

Pidge: Keith Kogane get your ass OUT OF bed and let me and Hunk inside

Walking across the carpet was strange, it was spongy and soft, compared to his shack that was often littered with paper and random objects. 

He hesitated at the door. Praying to the skies that Pidge wouldn’t murder him mercilessly, or at least hold back a little. He hadn’t slept well either, and according to his phone he had slept for almost 4 hours, but it hadn’t helped. He just felt more tired, the throbbing in his head hadn’t ceased, but had only grown worse the more he moved. 

With his hand closing around the keys he’d left dangling in the door’s lock, he twisted them to unlock the door. Keith yelped.

 _“Ow!”_

Pidge and Hunk collapsed and fell on him in a heap of tangled legs and arms. 

“What-what the fuck!? Don’t lean on the door!” Keith shrieked as Hunk’s weight pressed down on his chest. 

“Oh crap- Sorry Keith!” That was Hunk. Bless his soul. 

“You can apologize by letting me breathe- ack!” Keith muttered flatly and yelped as Pidge elbowed him in the side as she stood up, and re-adjusted her glasses so that they sat firmly on her nose. Hunk stood up as well and offered him a hand. 

Keith took his hand, large in comparison to his own. Glad to be on his feet again, he dusted himself off even though there was nothing to dust off. 

“How’s Lance?” Keith asked after a moment of silence, the guilt in his stomach was enough to make him coil. 

“Lance? Well-” 

“-He’s okay, he’s sleeping in our room right now, so Pidge is going to have to sleep here.” Hunk said before Pidge could branch off into a tangent. Pidge glared at him, which made Hunk chuckle giddily.

He didn’t say anything. What could he say? 

Eventually, Keith noticed the white box in Hunk’s hands, which miraculously hadn’t spilled in their tumble. Hunk had impeccable balance, noted. Or perhaps one of his priorities was food in general. 

“We also brought over some food, uh here.” Hunk said, and set it behind him. 

With the mention of food, as if on cue, Keith’s stomach growled particularly loudly. He hadn’t eaten anything since the few mouthfuls of red licorice the day before. 

“You’re welcome by the way, I wasn’t going to bring it over, but Hunk insisted.” 

Keith visibly shrunk, he still wasn’t aware of why he had lashed out, and sleeping it off hadn’t helped. He had woken up just as confused and dazed as when he had gone to sleep. Knowing that Pidge was still angry at him, and for good reason, deflated his spirit. 

“Look Pidge-” 

“Don’t ‘look Pidge’ me, you’re going to apologize, and you’re going to mean it. Me and Hunk’s exam is in 6 hours and we’d like to get some sleep, if you haven’t apologized by tomorrow night, I will personally make it my duty to make your life as miserable as possible.” Pidge growled, her words sharp and puncturing. 

“Yeah, uh, dude that was like, not cool.” Hunk added, less sharp, but Keith could feel the hard-edge to his sentence. Hunk was Lance’s best friend, of course Hunk was angry in Lance’s place, he was just better at suppressing it than Pidge.

Keith sighed loudly, rubbing his temples and sinking to sit on the bed. The throbbing had increased, and he was exhausted. 

“I am well aware Hunk.” Keith almost rolled his eyes. 

“Mind if I use the bathroom?” Pidge spat. Keith didn’t reply, but pointed to the side-off door to the right of the bed. 

Pidge huffed, as if too annoyed to stand his presence any longer. Shooting him one last glare, she pointedly slammed the door behind her with a bang. Keith flinched, although Pidge was small, she could slam a door just as well as he could. A trail of venom left in her wake.

Hunk rubbed his eyes, and began to back away out of the room “It’s chinese. Pidge said it was your favourite-” 

“Hunk! Go back to your room, we have an exam tomorrow remember?” Pidge shouted through the wall. Hunk flinched. 

Hunk smiled, his hand on the door knob, and saluted with his other hand.  
“Um so, good luck tomorrow! I hope you pass.” 

“You too.” Keith smiled back, warmed by Hunk’s soft tone. With a click, Hunk was gone. With just Pidge and him alone, the room felt less warm. 

Keith got up, trying desperately to ignore the migraine in his head, and picked up the white takeaway box Hunk had left on his drawer. Cracking it open, Keith was immediately startled to find it was indeed his favourite. Sweet and sour, and pork noodles. Suspiciously, he sniffed it, peeking at the contents, nothing looked out of place. 

“I haven’t poisoned it if that’s what you’re thinking.” 

Keith flinched as Pidge spoke.

He whipped around to face her with noodles dangling from his mouth, she stifled a laugh and walked around to the other side of the bed. Keith turned to face her as she circled around to the other side, and plopped, her tiny body barely taking up any of the room in the bed. 

“...mmmhm…” Keith mumbled, slurping up a few noodles. Salty and soaked in sauce, just like he remembered. 

Keith cautiously ate in silence, savouring each bite, and watched Pidge closely. She wasn’t asleep, in fact she just lay there in silence, waiting for Keith to say something. 

“I shouldn’t have snapped at him, or ignored you, I’m sorry.” Keith groaned as another throb gripped his head in it’s jaws. He swallowed down the noodle, it tasting like ashes and coal scorching his throat. Pidge shifted a little, and stretched out, rolling over to look at him. 

“Yeah, I’m sorry too... for calling you an asshole.” Though she didn’t sound completely genuine. 

Pidge paused, as if considering her choice of words carefully.  
“Lance isn’t as dumb as he seems, you know. You really shouldn’t underestimate him.” 

“I know.” 

Pidge let out a laugh this time, and stretched out her limbs on her back to stare at the ceiling. Keith set his food down, suddenly feeling less eager to eat anymore, and crawled under the covers. Pidge whipped off her glasses and set them on the bed-side table, flicking the light off. 

A brief silence rested on them, Pidge’s breathing slowed, she must be asleep. 

“Ow!” Keith winced, as quietly as he could, so as not to disturb her. 

“You could just ask for pills you know...” Pidge groaned, and flicked the light back on. 

The light made it worse. 

“How did you- _fuck!”_ Keith groaned, the pounding is his head growing. His brain was rotting.

“I looked up everyone’s files beforehand, and I know you forgot your medication.” Pidge snorted, almost laughing at his expense. Ripping off her blankets, she was soon throwing on her shoes and jumper. 

“You would have taken it by now, come on, we’re going to Lance.” 

Keith groaned once more. 

“Can’t you just get them for me? And why Lance?” 

“Hello I’m _fourteen?_ I am not walking around at four AM by myself getting your medication for you? And I know Lance will have some, he always carries them around, and If not, Hunk will.” She stated it like it was obvious. Pidge had no sympathy, she was simply doing what their plan required. It was logical, Keith couldn’t possibly focus or even take the exam in the first place if he was 

Pidge was like that, a logical thinker. 

“I want to sleep as much as you do, but I am not letting you go to that exam with a damn headache.” 

Keith grumbled as the tug of the blankets came, the warmth gone, and a coat was thrown on his face. Forcing his eyes open, he tried as hard as he could to suppress the incoming waves of pain through his skull. 

A few minutes, or perhaps light years, and fifty two agonising waves of pain, the two made it to Hunk and Lance’s door, staying quiet to avoid waking other apartments. Pidge knocked gently, while Keith made an effort not to collapse in the hallway

“Hunk! It’s Pidge and Keith, he’s dying out here.” Pidge whisper-shouted to avoid making a racket, as well as the fact most people were asleep at this time. 

“Huh guh- Pidge? Be there in a sec.” A thump, trot, and click later, Keith was now standing in Lance’s room, and too exhausted and disorientated to do anything about it. 

All he could see was the light, and feel the sharp thorns pressing down on his head like an enormous weight. 

“Migraine? Okay, yeah, I think Lance has some. His sister used to have them too...”

“...Here we go, Keith? Buddy? Open up for me pal.” 

His mouth was propped open, and a pill washed down his throat, a cold towel was pressed to his forehead. 

“He can stay here with Lance, I guess, Lance can let us know if anything goes wrong, he’s more acquainted with migraines anyway…” 

The pounding stopped.

“C’mon let’s go.”  
He was warm. It wasn’t his breathing he could hear, it was someone else’s. 

“...They’ll be fine here, Keith is half-asleep.” 

Whoever it was, they smelled like the ocean. 

_Yeah, in a good way._

\- - 

_Tick, tock, tick, tock._

The minutes ticked by. He was running out of time and he was stumped at the last question. What was the difference between a capital-intensive ship crew and a labour-intensive ship crew? He’d definitely studied this material, he just couldn’t remember.

He vaguely remembered this morning, his alarm had went, and he’d rolled to the side to find a note taped to the alarm. 

_Left early, didn’t want to wake you, see you at the exam. - Lance_

Of course he’d ‘left early’, if the situation was the other way around, Keith would have left early too. It still had scared him, waking up in Lance’s and Hunk’s room, kind of like waking up in a murder’s home after being taken captive. Hunk and Pidge had texted him, saying they had left to get some last-minute study in the early hours of the morning, and to let them know when he and Lance were finished because their exam happened right afterwards. 

Keith tapped his fingers rhythmically against the cold desk surface. At first he had been bouncing his leg anxiously, but the professor supervising them had glared at him. With a sigh, he tilted his head slightly to the side, pouting when his hair fell in his eyes. He really needed a haircut. As he brushed his hair aside, his eyes fell on Lance. He hadn’t looked at him once since he had walked in. The boy’s fingers hadn’t stopped writing for a second, which made Keith incredibly paranoid. 

What was he _doing?_ Writing a fucking essay?

His forehead was creased with determination, head down, eyes narrowed. Somehow, he remained coolly composed in the face of so many questions, while Keith had panicked immensely. It was amazing really, the turning of pages and pen scuffing was beginning to drive him insane. 

Forced to rely on instinct rather than learnt material. 

Still, Keith admired the way that Lance’s slender hands held his pen so delicately, the pen swirling and dipping smoothly across the page. He had neat writing for someone who was writing as rapidly as he was. Shit, what time was it?

Tick. 

_10:45am_

Another cross to the time on the board. 

Keith looked up to see everyone sigh visibly rather than audibly. The hall was filled with the all-too familiar sound of students scratching their heads, Keith rubbed his hands together, a draft chilling them. Somewhere in the right corner sneezed, earning them a not-so-subtle warning from the superviser. Keith prayed that he wouldn’t be his teacher if he even managed to get into the Garrison in the first place. 

They only had a few minutes left. They’d been here since 8:00 am already. Keith’s posture hadn’t been very good since the beginning, his back was sore but his head wasn’t aching anymore, thanks to the medication, it had worked wonders. With a sudden miracle, he remembered the answer, with only a minute to spare.

“Time is up! Hand in your papers. The results will be put up on the projected notice board tomorrow at precisely 7am.” 

Keith stood up shakily, he’d poured out a lot of information onto his paper, he just hoped it was enough. Keith lined up with the rest of the hopeful to-be Pilots. His grip tightened on his paper as Lance brushed past him. He couldn’t help but feel a strong rush of guilt and shame wash over him. With a visible effort, he stopped himself from sighing again, something he’d been doing a lot lately. 

With a slight twitch of his fingers, he let go of the exam, and rushed to get out of the shiny-floored exam room. It was too white here, too orderly and clean, spotless. Oh how he yearned for his dessert shack. No… not his desert shack. 

He longed to escape. 

Keith hesitated at the door and looked through the swarm of teenagers, he caught a glimpse of a brown haired tall familiar figure, but squinted, blinked, and they were gone. Keith’s shoulders drooped, and he too, joined the flurry of students and hurried out. 

Just as he was about to step out, a hand fell on his shoulder. 

“Can I have a word with you young man?”

Keith spun around, stunned to find the supervisor giving him a hard stare, towering over him. Broad shoulders, wide chest, and a well-defined nose. 

“Uh...” Keith stammered, and the hand left his shoulder. Keith gulped. Not good. 

“You were looking at that other student a lot throughout the exam, the tall one a desk away to the right of you, not cheating I presume?” Keith felt his stomach drop, had he really been looking at Lance that whole time? He’d tried his best not to, but his eyes had been drawn to him, he hadn’t been able to focus with the ‘scritch scritch’ of Lance’s pencil.

“N-no sir!” Keith felt frozen, his gaze locked on the man, fear gripped him as he went on. 

“Certain? There are a lot of young, worthy, pupils who would sacrifice a _limb_ to attend this prestigious academy, if I find out there has been any scheme during that exam regarding your paper, I will personally have you banned from these school grounds-” 

“-He wasn’t cheating.” A new voice. 

A girl’s voice. 

The supervisor turned his hard, ice-like stare on the girl. Keith stared in envy, mouth open as the girl took a deep breath, her voice confident and bold, almost daring. 

“I was sitting behind them, so I could tell. Besides, if he was cheating, I would have informed you.” 

The man continued to stare, unblinking as she spoke. She returned his gaze, not removing her eye-contact. He stroked his chin and closed his eyes, considering her statement thoughtfully. Then, like a miracle, he seemed to believe her. 

“I’ll be keeping an eye on the both of you.” And with that, he turned on one foot, and whipped around, pointing at them individually with a stern tone.  
“Do not let me catch you up to anything else, capiche?” With those last words, he seemed satisfied. Keith’s shoulders relaxed and he wiped a sheen of sweat from his forehead, glad to see the supervisor’s figure grow smaller as he sauntered away. 

He turned to his rescuer.

“Hey, thanks- _Shay!?”_ He could hardly recognize her, she wasn’t wearing her arcade-work uniform but instead, clean, casual attire, despite that It was most definitely her. The bob and muscular brown arms gave it away, as well as her kind yellow-tinged eyes. Shay adjusted her books, getting a better hold on them, and brushed the hem of her skirt down with one hand. She gave him a dazzling smile. 

“No problem Keith, that supervisor’s a nutcase- Commander Iverson I think?” She rolled her eyes, following his eyes and watching as Commander Iverson left. “Anyway, I thought you could use some help.” She told him cheerily, shrugging the incident off. 

“Yeah, thanks, seriously…” Keith trailed off, noticing her arms clutched around her various books, he felt a twinge in his stomach. “Uh… do you need help with those?” 

“No, I can manage, how’s the gang?” An unspoken name was on the tip of her tongue. Hunk. 

“They’re good, Hunk’s fine, his exam should be on right now though…” He told her, looking to the right of him, watching as the next group of teens filled and flooded the hall, mostly grabbing seats at the back. He couldn’t spot Hunk amongst them. 

“Oh fu-! That reminds me, I’m supposed to tell him I’m finished!” Keith fumbled for his phone, quickly tapping out a message, breathing a sigh of relief when Hunk sent back a text saying he was already there, and that he’d see him in two hours time. 

_11:15am received:_

Hunk: I came early

Hunk: see you afterwards <3 pidge says hi 

Hunk: and that you better make up with lance 

Keith's stomach dropped immediately. With the blur of the exam questions, the thought of apologizing had left his mind completely.

Hunk: Gotta go, exam’s starting

Looking up, he remembered Shay was still there, looking at him intently. 

“You go to the Garrison?” Keith was impressed. 

“I was working at the Arcade to save money,” She explained, “I’ll probably quit soon.” 

“Oh, cool. What are you majoring in?” 

“Biology studies, rocks, that sort of thing. I plan on researching the ecosystem’s of the planets we discover.” Shay told him. “Maybe one day I’ll discover something amazing.” Her eyes lit up with dawning excitement, suggesting she was more thrilled with the opportunity than she was letting on.

“What about you? What exam did you take just now?” She asked, and looked to the hall he had walked out of. 

“Piloting, same with Lance, but Hunk’s going in right now for engineering, and Pidge is too, but she’s actually specialising in computing, coding, stuff like that.”  
He hadn’t paid much attention to Pidge’s and Hunk studying, but from what he had gathered, Hunk was straightforward about his building, but Pidge was more creative, slipping in adjustments to give it her own flare. It’s what made the two a great team, if Pidge got too boisterous with her experiments, Hunk was there to keep everything under control and level-headed. He was also the only one who could keep up with Pidge’s computer-jargon. 

“That’s so cool! While I’m studying the planet’s, you guys could fly me there!” Shay exclaimed excitedly, joyous at the suggestion. Keith let out a short laugh.

“We’re not even sure if we’ve passed yet.”

“Ah, I’m sure you will, Pidge has been keeping me well informed, I know you guys studied hard.” 

Keith found his eyes drifting away from her, his attention slipping away as he thought about how the exam had actually been difficult, Shay gave him a hearty slap on the back. 

“Anyway, I better head off, I got a bus home to catch, Pidge can tell me if I got accepted or not.” She pointed to her phone.

“Bye Shay.” He gave her a friendly wave, she returned it, smiling again.

“Bye Keith. Tell the other’s ‘hi’ for me, okay?” He nodded. 

Keith checked the time. _11:25am._

Only ten minutes had ticked by. Pidge and Hunk would be out in another hour and a half.  
He decided to head home, he looked one last time to the hall, where hundreds of students scribbling away sat, frantically cramming as many words as they could. The pencils moving like hundreds of wagging dogs-tails, high in the air. Among them, as Keith searched, he thought he could just about see a glimpse of a familiar orange headband, and next to them, a spiky, short-haired girl.

Instantly, he relaxed. They would be fine. 

Tucking his phone back into his pocket, he glanced around his unfamiliar surroundings. Sighing, the absence of the other three was adamant here, without the others there, he had no way of getting back to the hotel. 

Usually, Shiro would have picked him up from school, asked him how his day was, then gone out to study with Matt. 

Keith pulled out his phone again, realizing that without music, he would walk in unbearable silence, something he couldn’t stand. 

Flicking through the songs, he fell on one he hadn’t listened to in a long time. 

Plugging in the earphones, and tucking the phone snug in his jacket pocket, felt all-too familiar, he hadn’t listened to any music in a long time. When Keith was alone, he would turn to music. In the desert, he would would blast out the different songs, nobody was out there in the wide expanse, it was him and his collection of music he and Shiro had compiled. 

Blocking out the sounds of the world with thousands of differing tunes, was a large coping method when Shiro had gone missing. He was told that soon he would go deaf, by how loud he would blast it into his ears until he could almost feel his brain bleeding in response. He refused, and cranked up the volume till music was all he could hear, and music alone. 

His thoughts numbed, and he liked it, he wasn’t thinking about Shiro and that was all that mattered… right? 

He believed there was no such thing as bad music, it was all just sound to surround himself. 

Except country. Fuck country.

The beat started, and Keith started walking back to the hotel.

\- - 

Keith wrenched out hiss earphones, and dreading the response, he knocked on the door. Without the music around him, a cold sweat washed over him. He was thinking already even though Lance hadn’t answered. 

“It’s open!” Lance called, and Keith stepped inside, shutting the white door behind him gently. Lance was up, sorting through his clothes, and folding them into a pile, scattered clothes lay everywhere around him, most were bright and pastel, while some were dark. 

“Have you seen my socks- Oh.” Lance broke off his bright tuned voice as he looked up, catching Keith’s stare. 

“What took you so long? I got here ages ago.” Keith couldn’t help but notice the forced-bright tone Lance had taken on, almost shoving in his face that Lance was trying to start over, making Keith feel even worse. 

“I got lost.” Keith grunted flatly, whipping his shoes off and collapsing on the bed, glad that the soft cushioning was there to support his exhausted body. 

“You got... lost… with _signs_ everywhere pointing the way back?” 

“Yup.” Keith lied, the bitter taste of it lying flat on his tongue. He had actually purposefully taken a detour, and went the long way around, putting off coming back. Eventually he had accepted the inevitable, and ended up collapsing from walking for so long. 

“Well that’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.” Lance grinned teasingly, tying up a bundle of socks together, and plopping them in his suitcase. 

“Oh shut up.” 

_Ziiiip._ Lance zipped the suitcase shut, and got off the floor. He was silent. 

Had he been too sharp?

Keith shot up from the bed, suddenly aware that he may have overstepped his boundaries. Lance stood up to leave the room. An eerie flash of dark blue flickered across his eyes, like blue goldfish. The bright blue was gone. 

“Lance.” 

_“Lance.”_ Keith repeated, more urgently this time. 

Biting his tongue, he could taste blood. 

“I’m sorry.” There was so much more he wanted to stay, but he hoped the words were enough.

Keith felt sick, his stomach forming tight grappling knots. Lance turned around slowly, and blinked a few times, like he was hearing Keith’s voice for the first time.

"I know, mullet.” Lance nodded slightly, eyes half-closed, tired but sincere. 

Keith felt the guilt rise from his shoulders. Forgiveness.

\- - 

 

Keith was pacing anxiously while Lance was lying on his bed, pretending to be asleep. He’d turned off the lights a while ago. Finally, he got sick of hearing Keith muttering under his breath and the soft ‘plop, plop’ of his shoes scuffing the floor. Lance had forgotten to bring his headphones for some relaxing tunes to help him sleep. 

“Ugh, would you _stop?”_ Lance groaned, sitting up, “Your pacing is driving me nuts!” 

“What the hell am I supposed to do?” Keith shot back, “Stare at the ceiling?”

“Uh, yeah.” Lance rolled over and to Keith’s surprise, didn’t say anything more. 

It was getting late, and they were both exhausted from the mental strain of the exam, not to mention worried about the results tomorrow morning. Had all their work been for nothing? Their late nights of running and functioning purely on coffee and nothing else had finally caught up with them. However, Keith hadn’t bought any sleeping pills to prevent his brain from filtering thoughts in and out non-stop.

“Fine, fine, I’m going to sleep alright?” Keith dragged his feet to his bed, his breath uneven. His head was sore again and he was too prideful to ask for more pills.

“Finally!” Lance threw his arms up, triumphant. There was silence for a few minutes. A long, awkward silence as Keith shuffled to and fro, throwing the covers on, then throwing them off again. Less than ten minutes later, it clicked. 

“Wait, do you have insomnia?” Lance sat up, it only just dawning on him. 

“... yeah.” Keith cleared his throat and sat up, leaning on his elbows as he watched Lance climb out of bed and grab a container out of his duffle bag. 

“Here! Try these.” Lance handed him the container. They were pills but not ones Keith was familiar with. He peered at them, he knew the migraine pills wouldn’t work for sleep, but he was wary. 

“What are they?” He asked, tipping two out. 

“They’re not poison.” Lance seemed to leave out the word 'dumb ass', then snorted, slightly annoyed at his dis-trust “They’re sleeping pills, the light kind, sometimes I use them.” 

“Thanks.” Keith said as he popped them in his mouth. Lance winked at him, punching his shoulder lightly. 

“Don’t mention it.”

Lance muttered under his breath, and rolled over so that he wasn’t facing him. 

“Do you think Pidge’s and Hunk’s exam went okay?” Keith asked, rolling over onto his stomach to lean on his elbows. Lance shuffled to face him and shrugged. 

“Dunno. It probably went fine, they were too tired afterwards to come over though.” Lance replied, more tiredness in his tone this time. Keith couldn’t help but notice, Lance’s curly mop of hair, and his sharp jaw that gave his grin more of an edge. In the dark even, he could still pick up his features. Perhaps he had them memorised. 

“Think we passed?” Keith asked, agitated. He still felt as if he’d half-assed the whole thing despite studying for months, and now that the ‘lance crisis’ was over, he felt stupid. 

“Hope so.” Lance sighed, his voice heavy with exhaustion. 

“Say we did pass, they still only pick the one’s that show the most potential, so we might not even get in.” Keith shifted again to face the light that came cascading out of the curtain. 

“Yeah.” Even Lance sounded a tinge worried this time. 

Keith felt his stomach drop, what if he hadn’t done enough? Lance had written enough, he’d written the whole time, arms scribbling away…. But he had winged the whole thing. 

Maybe Keith was the one who should take things more seriously. 

Keith whipped around, anxiety getting the better of him. “What if we don’t get in-” 

“Shut up and go to sleep.” Lance grunted, and rolled over again, cutting him off. It was late. Every other apartment had turned off their lights hours ago, the only light coming through was the crack in the curtain that neither of them wanted to shut. 

Footsteps. Keith could just barely pick up his steps across the carpet, and just before the pills kicked in, he could just pick out amongst his blurry vision- Lance’s long slender arm gently closing the curtain then falling by his side as he turned back around to climb into bed. 

A whisk of lollipop blue escaped his lips as Lance whispered to Keith, who was fast-asleep, dreaming of red licorice and road trips with Shiro.

“Goodnight.” Even though Keith couldn't hear him.


End file.
